Dillon warns Government not to budge on nitrates
But the European Commission holds a strong hand in discussions on the Nitrates Directive, says Mr Michael O'Donovan, principal officer in the Department of Agriculture and Food.
He points out that substantial fines are not the only worry, if Ireland does not comply with the directive.
Millions of euro in funding could be held back from CAP rural development measures such as REPS, compensatory allowance, forestry and early retirement.
At the very least, the Commission can veto Ireland's proposals for spending modulated funds which will become available later this year for rural development. Ireland also wants to amend the REPS package it agreed with Brussels, to preserve the level of payment to farmers with commonages. "The Commission has indicated that it will not be able to allow such an amendment to proceed if Ireland is deemed, by the middle of the year, not yet to be implementing the nitrates directive correctly," Mr O'Donovan told the Oireachtas Joint Committee recently.
The Commission has also said that when negotiations start next year on rural development funding for 2007 to 2013, Ireland's position will be extremely difficult if it is not in compliance on nitrates.
In 2002, the Commission blocked an amendment to the compensatory allowances measure for some months, until Ireland could give firmer assurances on the nitrates directive.
"It is possible that worse is to come next year, Mr O'Donovan warned.
If farmers are looking for any grains of comfort in the nitrates debate, they should consider that the Commission's "opening bid" called for all Irish livestock farmers to have slurry storage for six or seven months. That was the recommendation of Environmental Resources Management, the environmental resources consultancy firm contracted by the Commission to undertake a study of each country.
