Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he wants to “build a new partnership” with farm organisations in the coming months to address a range of changes coming down the tracks for agriculture in Ireland.
Speaking at the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party Conference (or ‘think-in) in Limerick city today (Friday, September 15), the Taoiseach spoke about the coming changes to the nitrates derogation, which will drop from 250kg of organic nitrogen (N) per hectare to 220kgN/ha from January 2024 in large parts of the country.
The Fine Gael think-in took place at the Strand Hotel in Limerick, where members of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) held a protest outside, at which the association’s president, Tim Cullinan, was present.
The Taoiseach confirmed that he would be meeting with the IFA today.
In response to a question from Agriland, the Taoiseach said: “I’m going to meet the IFA today, with some of my colleagues. We meet the IFA regularly, we have an ongoing engagement, [and the derogation is] the type of thing we need to talk about.”
However, the Taoiseach was resigned to the fact that the derogation will be reduced in those areas where water quality was poorest.
He commented: “The nitrates directive and nitrates derogation is what it is. Unfortunately, because water quality did not improve adequately, we’re going from 250 to 220 in a lot of areas.
“What I’m keen to talk to [the IFA] about is whether there’s an opening for some flexibility around that from the European Commission. I don’t know if there is but I certainly want to explore that, and what other measures we can put in place to help farmers manage the transition.”
But the Taoiseach went on to suggest that he wanted to see changes to the long-term engagement between farm politics and mainstream politics.
“One thing I will be saying to the farm organisations is that I would like to build a new partnership with them in the months ahead,” he said.
“There are big changes happening, not just in Ireland but all around the world, because of climate, because of biodiversity loss, because of water quality, because of greater understanding of the impact food has on health, and also the need to produce more food.”
The Taoiseach added: “We need farmers to produce food, more of it, not less of it, but I don’t think the dialogue that we’ve had in recent times has been working. I think that needs to change.”
He said he wanted to have a similar relationship what farm organisations as currently exists between government and trade unions and industry bodies.
“I’d like there to be a new partnership, the likes of which we have with the trade unions and the business groups, where we sit down and we try to manage change in the interests of farmers, rather than trying to make out that these changes aren’t going to happen or they can be stopped. We all know they can’t,” the Taoiseach said.