Local authorities scheduled to inspect 4,500 farms in 2025

Local authority inspection data for 2022 showed that about 30% of farms inspected were non-compliant with the regulations, said the Housing Department's Assistant Secretary of the Water Division, Fintan Towey, when he addressed the recent Oireachtas debate on compliance with the nitrates directive.

In 2024, the local authorities are scheduled to inspect at least 3,300 farms, increasing to 4,500 farms in 2025.

This has been facilitated by Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage funding for 57 agricultural inspectors in 2023 and 2024, in addition to the 11 staff already in place for inspections.

The department also allocated funding to the EPA for five staff to establish and provide oversight to the local authority's national agricultural inspections programme.

There was also funding for four new staff members in LAWPRO (the Local Authority Waters Programme) to assist with inspection coordination and support training.

The Housing Department is responsible for the Nitrates Action Programmes, the Good Agricultural Practice regulations, and the national River Basin Management Plan.

It works closely on developing these with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), which authorises and implements the nitrates derogation.

Local authority inspection data for 2022 showed that about 30% of farms inspected were non-compliant with the regulations, said the Housing Department's Assistant Secretary of the Water Division, Fintan Towey, when he addressed the recent Oireachtas debate on compliance with the nitrates directive.

Agencies were asked about the possibility of maintaining Ireland’s nitrates derogation at its current level while improving water quality, and Mr Towey said this outcome is significantly more likely if full compliance with good agricultural practice regulations is achieved.

A significant reduction in nitrogen lost to water will be necessary, he said, and farm advisory services and the agri-industry helping farmers to comply with regulations will be essential.

Along with full compliance, targeted protection beyond regulatory standards will be needed, including the new €60 million Farming for Water EIP (European Innovation Partnership).

Barry Fox, Head of Operations, Inland Fisheries Ireland, said maintaining the nitrates derogation, with improved water quality, would likely require significant investment in storage infrastructure and capacity, detailed nutrient management planning on farms, as well as increased compliance and enforcement.

He recommended funding for a network of high-frequency real-time monitoring devices in catchments at high risk from excessive nitrogen and phosphorous inputs. "These sensors should have Internet of Things capability, and the real-time data could be made available to farmers and other stakeholders to inform on-farm activities".

He revealed that an upcoming report shows a lower proportion of fish kills attributed to agriculture and eutrophication (enrichment by nutrients) in the 2006 to 2022 period than from 1969 to 2006. However, the report indicates that agriculture and eutrophication have been the largest contributors to fish kills in Ireland since 1969.

Anthony Coleman, Director of Services, LAWPRO, said up to 8,000 farms have been identified by LAWPRO for targeted advice by the Teagasc and Dairy Industry Ireland-led Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP).

He said lack of funding for farmers was identified as a barrier to supplementary measures needed for water quality, and the Farming for Water EIP will provide €50m in funding directly to farmers for voluntary measures, over and above regulatory compliance, to reduce losses of phosphorus, nitrogen, sediment, and pesticides to water.

The EIP will target up to 15,000 farmers by the end of 2027.

The Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture also heard from the agencies that the proportion of nitrogen coming from agriculture is over 90% in the most acutely affected catchments, namely the Barrow, Nore, Suir and Blackwater. These figures come from the Environmental Protection Agency's Source Load Apportionment Model which estimates the nitrogen inputs to waters in each catchment.

Nationally, 54% of over 4,800 waterbodies achieve the environmental objective of "at least good" status, but 46% do not, according to EPA monitoring.

Agriculture is the most significant pressure on more than 1,000 waterbodies.