Today the Nitrates Committee greenlighted an extension of Ireland’s nitrate derogation. The decision flies in the face of Ireland’s deteriorating water quality.

Just two weeks after the European Court of Justice ruling that Ireland is failing water legislation, the Member State representatives in the Nitrates Committee gave their thumbs up to extend Ireland’s derogation from the Nitrates Directive by another three years. This is the sixth such exemption that Ireland is seeking from the Commission.

From 2026, Ireland will be the only EU country still benefiting from a derogation. This derogation means allowing the application of manure above what would normally be allowed. This encourages a higher concentration of livestock across a smaller number of hectares – despite the huge and growing environmental and human health risks.

The derogations are only granted on the condition that it does not lead to water pollution. Ireland has now had five nitrates derogations, which are generally given for four-year periods. Yet during that time, water pollution has only got worse.

Sinéad O’Brien, Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) CEO, said,

The evidence simply did not exist to justify renewing Ireland’s nitrates derogation. Science has shown that water quality is not improving; it’s getting worse. The current measures under Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme lack a solid evidence base, so they cannot deliver the improvements required by EU law. The government’ plans to take three years to prepare for proper Appropriate Assessments, and many of the Commission’s conditions attached to the decision only have to be met by 2028, which means that water quality will continue to deteriorate in the meantime, and so force farmers into the likelihood of a sudden and difficult adjustment down the line. Meanwhile, our precious water and wildlife suffer.

Dr Elaine McGoff, Head of Advocacy for An Taisce and Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) Vice-chair, said,

Today’s decision to renew the derogation was not the right decision for the environment or for farmers. Ireland should be planning for a fair and managed transition away from the derogation by 2028, backed by a dedicated transition fund. The prolonging of the nitrates derogation leads farmers into yet more unsustainable intensification, which will ultimately fail both our farmers and our waterways. Ireland has demonstrated time and time again that it cannot manage agricultural intensification while protecting water quality. Any permitted derogations should only be allowed where it can be demonstrated that the requirements of the Habitats Directive and the Water Framework Directive will be upheld. To date, we have utterly failed to do that.

From what we have heard, any additional requirements under this next derogation, such as a proposed reduction in fertiliser in certain catchments, won’t kick in until 2028. What protection will our water bodies have for the next three years?

Sara Johansson, Senior Policy Officer for Water at the EEB, said:

Europe’s water laws exist to protect people’s health and the environment. Instead of creating exemptions that gives agri-industry interests another free pass to pollute with no accountability, the Commission should step up enforcement on the Nitrates Directive and close the yawning gaps in implementation and reporting. Legal ways to circumvent the rules via prolonged derogations and technofixes like RENURE puts clean water, healthy ecosystems and community safety further at risk – and pushes Europe further from meeting its obligations under the Water Framework Directive.

Fintan Kelly, Agriculture and Land Use Officer at the Environmental Pillar, said:

The decision to renew Ireland’s Nitrates derogation for a fifth time marks a new chapter in a cycle that has locked dairy farmers into debt and our rivers, loughs and coastal waters into decline and ecological collapse. Around two-thirds of Irish dairy farmers have farm-related debt and this will only increase as farmers take out loans to invest in slurry storage that will not address nitrogen pollution at pasture. Instead of listening to the science and working with farmers to transition to sustainable stocking levels the Commission and the Irish government have decided to usher farmers down a path that will result in ruin.

Troubled waters

Water quality in Ireland is in trouble, with half of rivers and lakes and two-thirds of estuaries polluted. The latest EPA report shows that the ecological quality of our water bodies is getting worse. The culprit? Agriculture has been consistently the biggest pressure on water quality for over a decade. Agricultural nitrogen pollution is a significant problem in the south and southeast in particular, and this is where the majority of the derogation farms are located.

The Nitrates Directive has been in place since 1991, but Member States are far from meeting their obligations to bring Europe’s waters to good status. The latest Nitrates Directive implementation report (from 2021) shows that improvement of nitrate pollution has stalled in the past decade. However, the Commission could not assess if eutrophication of surface waters has improved or worsened since the previous reporting period due to lack of data from Member States.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• An Taisce has legally challenged the Irish Government’s latest plan for preventing agricultural water pollution, arguing it is too weak to protect water. This will be heard in front of the European Court of Justice on December 11th.
• A recent poll by Ireland Thinks, commissioned by An Taisce found that an overwhelming majority of people (82% of respondents) believe clean rivers and lakes are a priority.
• The EEB is calling on Commissioner Roswall to focus on closing the implementation and enforcement gap and refrain from opening the Nitrates Directive for revision.
• Despite the slow progress on implementation, the European Commission has only launched three new infringements in the last ten years, while several previously launched cases were closed, despite ongoing issues with nitrate pollution.

Contacts:

Ben Snelson, Communications Officer, European Environmental Bureau, benedict.snelson@eeb.org

Antóin McDermott, Communications and Advocacy Manager, The Sustainable Water Network, amcdermott@swanireland.ie

Ciaran Brennan, Communications Officer, Irish Environmental Network, ciaran@ien.ie