Stephen Cadogan: Chickens come home to roost for Dutch dairy industry

In 2015, more than 1,600 Irish farmers incurred penalties totalling €1.8m for breaches of the 170kg of nitrates per hectare limit.

However, Dutch farmers have been allowed increase milk production by 25% since 2011, even though the country operates under an exemption from EU pollution laws which allowed only a 10% milk increase.

As a result, production on Dutch farms of phosphate, which contaminates groundwater, has exceeded permitted EU levels for several years.