In response to a comment from the floor at the Irish Farmers Journal nitrates information meeting that reducing the upper limit of the derogation from 250kg to 220kg/ha will have a negligible impact on water quality, Ted Massey, senior inspector in the nitrates division with the Department of Agriculture said he agreed it would have little impact: “We pointed out to them [the EU Commission] that moving to 220kg N/ha was not going to be a key factor in addressing water quality.

“We said that water quality will improve, we’re confident of that, but it’s the other measures that we have in our Nitrates Action Programme that are going to deliver that,” he said. Massey went on to say that the Irish delegation was left with no choice but to accept the Commission proposal to reduce the upper limit.

“A more refined approach could be much more useful and less detrimental to the industry but we were faced with the situation where the commission were saying ‘well maybe we shouldn’t grant you the derogation and if you want it, this is what you have to accept’.”