Water quality is “going in the wrong direction” and the writing is “on the wall” for the nitrates derogation, the Green Party TD Brian Leddin has claimed.
Deputy Leddin told the Dáil that the nitrates directive is an “essential part” in protecting water.
“It is designed to prevent nitrogen and phosphorus from polluting our water, and Ireland has secured a derogation to the directive freely since 2007, allowing farming at more intense levels.
“Approximately 7,300 farmers now farm at this higher intensity, and in light of the recent worrying trends in water quality, this time the European Commission granted us the derogation on the basis that water quality would improve,” the TD for Limerick City said.
During a Dáil debate this week on the latest Environment Protection Agency (EPA) report – Water Quality 2022 – Deputy Leddin said that the report highlighted that nitrates concentrations “are too high in 40% of river sites nationally and in 20% of estuarine and coastal water bodies”.
“These elevated levels are found mainly in the south and south east, and this is primarily attributable to intensive agricultural activities on freely draining soils in these areas,” he added.
However, the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, also told the Dáil during the same debate that nitrogen and agricultural run-off “is something that we want to work on and address in partnership with the farming community”.
“This EPA report highlights that too much nitrogen and phosphorous is getting into our waterways.
“Nitrogen is coming mainly from agricultural fertilisers and manures, and phosphorus is coming mainly from agricultural run-off and wastewater discharges,” the minister said.
He said that there was a need “to work closely with farmers” to reduce the loss of nutrients “from land into our rivers, lakes and coastal areas”.
“Taking a collective and collaborative approach may take longer, but I believe it produces better and more robust policy.
“In recent weeks, we have seen how divisive approaches can be used by some to create fear and misunderstanding in an attempt to pit farmer against environmentalist, and I am clear this is an artificial divide.
“We all know we cannot have good agricultural production without healthy nature and clean water, and we cannot restore nature without our farmers, without grazing animals or without productive use of our land,” Minister Noonan added.
He said “all sides of the conversation” had a role to play and that Ireland cannot have good agricultural production without healthy nature and clean water.
Minister Noonan added: “The Irish agrifood sector markets itself on Ireland’s clean, green image. Our dairy processors, in particular, enjoy the benefits of a derogation facility within the nitrates directive.
“Our tillage farms supply food and drink industries which are selling to international markets. Environmental sustainability also needs economic sustainability, but industry needs to provide farmers with a reasonable economic return for operating sustainably within the limits of their land”.
He said that farmers will need programmes that include both economic returns for doing the right thing and ready access to practical farm-level advice.
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