European Commissioner due in Ireland soon to discuss nitrates derogation

Virginijus Sinkevicius’s visit is happening despite the European Commission saying the nitrates derogation will not be changed. File picture: EC Audiovisual Service

The European Environment Commissioner is to visit Ireland in the coming weeks, it has been confirmed, just days after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar intervened in the dispute over the nitrates derogation.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue met the commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, in Brussels on Monday at a gathering of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. A spokesperson for the minister confirmed that Mr Sinkevičius will visit Ireland shortly, adding that the two had a “positive” discussion at their meeting.

The spokesperson said the commissioner will await an invitation letter from the Taoiseach before officially announcing his visit.

However, it is unlikely the visit will lead to a change in Ireland’s nitrates derogation, which will be reduced from 250kg/ha to 220kg/ha from January 1, 2024.

Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz said any discussion on amending the derogation would be “premature” as Ireland’s water quality had yet to improve.

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“Given that the current derogation was adopted in 2022 and applies until the end of 2025, a discussion on amending the derogation would be premature,” Mr Jahnz said. “Also, since there is no major improvement in water quality in Ireland or any other relevant development or new information which could justify an amendment, this discussion would be premature.”

On Friday, Mr Varadkar confirmed to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) that he would invite Mr Sinkevičius to meet with himself, Mr McConalogue, and a delegation from the farming sector. 

This followed a meeting between an IFA delegation, Mr Varadkar, Trade Minister Simon Coveney, and junior agriculture minister Martin Heydon at the Fine Gael think-in in Co Limerick.

This was despite Mr McConalogue confirming just hours beforehand that the European Commission is clear there is no possibility of reopening and renegotiating the nitrates derogation and that Ireland must work within the existing terms.

However, the minister’s spokesperson added that Mr McConalogue’s priority is to ensure that Ireland retains the current derogation beyond 2026.

Changes to the derogation mean that thousands of dairy farmers must reduce the size of their herds in the coming four months. Alternatively, they need to spend hundreds of thousands of euro on more land to comply with the derogation.