The big issue... Nitrates Directive

Two years for derogation

By Paul Mooney

Getting a decision from the EU Commission on a possible derogation from the Nitrates Directive's base 170kg organic nitrogen per hectare would take about two years, an Oireachtas committee was told last week.

While awaiting a decision it is expected that farmers would not be required to cut back stocking rates to the 170kg threshold, the Department of the Environment's John Saddlier indicated to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food.

He outlined his Department's plans for meeting the Commission's demands for rapid progress on the Directive. The Department plans to have Ireland's action programme finalised and sent to Brussels for approval by the end of June. It will submit an application for a derogation from the 170kg limit in July.

It hopes to have binding legislation giving effect to the action programme in place by September and to then produce guidance notes for farmers.

Responding to questions from committee members he said that the Commission had made it known in writing to the Department of the Environment that, in its view, the draft action programme did not meet the requirements of the Directive and had to be strengthened in several respects. These, he said, included minimum slurry storage requirements; closed periods for spreading of slurry; the total amount of slurry that could be spread on land "plus numerous other areas including record keeping''.

The Commission indicated that six months slurry storage capacity should be a requirement across the whole country. The action programme has the potential to impact on all farmers, he said, not just the most intensive ones. The expenditure required could be substantial in some cases.

Saddlier said that the cross compliance condition attached to the new Single Farm Payment was one factor which had hugely changed the picture and added urgency to the task of complying with the Directive.

Committee members asked if individual farmers' Single Farm Payment, to operate from next year, would be threatened if Ireland was not in compliance with the Directive by then.

If Ireland proceeds to submit a credible action programme there will be no adverse implications for the Single Farm Payment, said Michael O'Donovan of the Department of Agriculture.

However, it has been made clear to his Department that continued EU co-funding of the four CAP accompanying measures hinges on the Commission being satisfied with Ireland's action on the Directive, he said. These measures are REPS, early retirement, forestry and the disadvantaged areas payments scheme.

If the country was found not to be compliant with the Directive there was facility for a ‘correction' under the Single Farm Payment, he claimed. "Each possible 1% correction would be serious.''

Dept accused of scare-mongering

John Dillon this week accused Department of Agriculture officials of scare-mongering on the Single Farm Payment in relation to the agreeing of an action programme for the Nitrates Directive.

"Department officials would be better employed working on the irrefutable case we have for increased organic nitrogen limits, and reduced storage requirements, to properly reflect farming and the high quality environment in Ireland,'' the IFA president said.

Published EPA reports on drinking water reflect the excellent quality of our surface and ground waters and show overall compliance with the limits of the Nitrates Directive, he said.

"Over 99% of public and group scheme water supplies do not exceed the maximum nitrates concentration set out in the Directive of 50mg nitrate per litre. Also, 98.5% of groundwater samples as reported by the EPA (2000) are equal to or less than the 50mg nitrate limit included in the Directive - and are falling. Nitrate levels in rivers in the south-east are below the guideline level of the Directive while there is practically no nitrate in western rivers.''

These results are based on the monitoring of water quality in almost 3,000 public and group water schemes, he said. Dillon called on the Government to honour its commitments in Partnership to provide for organic nitrogen limits of 210kg and 250kg per hectare in the country's action programme - from day one.