It would be “next to impossible” for Ireland to meet the criteria agreed 18 months ago for the nitrates derogation review even if every animal was taken off every farm, Senator Tim Lombard has said.
He called for a strong coherent science-based case to be made by the Irish Department of Agriculture, to change the criteria which has seen large parts of Ireland’s derogation limit cut from 250kg organic N/ha to 220kg. The inclusion in the agreed criteria that any water body “in danger of eutrophication” would result in a cut to 220kg was a “straitjacket” that made it impossible for Ireland to retain the 250kg limit.
“If you look at Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath – they will never pass that [in danger of eutrophication] criteria, even if you took every animal out of the county,” the Fine Gael senator said, pointing to forestry affecting water quality in those areas. Unless that criteria is changed, it will be impossible for Ireland to meet the water quality requirement, he maintained.
Lombard, who is vice-chair of the Oireachtas agriculture committee, said highlighting the animal welfare implications of the derogation cut “might get a hearing” within the European Commission.
“If they are made aware that farmers have been given no option but to slaughter cows that were bred before the derogation decision was made, they would be very uncomfortable about that from an animal welfare perspective.”
Lombard called for slurry storage to be prioritised under TAMS, higher grant rates applied, and rules changed so that all farmers could access grant aid for slurry storage.
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