Overview reports setting out some of the data that will be considered in Ireland’s bid to prove that the nitrates derogation complies with EU environmental directives have been published by the Department of Agriculture.

The Department has said that these reports represent an “important part of the process” set by the European Commission that Ireland must undertake as per the terms of the three-year extension to the nitrates derogation announced last December.

The publication is intended to bring transparency to the appropriate assessment process and inform interested parties of the best currently available information that has been sourced from the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department itself.

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The catchment overviews are contained in separate reports that cover each of the 46 river catchments identified nationally under the Water Framework Directive.

The data outlined in the documents includes environmental, ecological and agronomic information collated at a catchment scale that is deemed relevant to the appropriate assessment.

Similar reports are to be made available towards the beginning of next year setting out equivalent data overviews at a more granular sub-catchment level.

“During the derogation negotiation process, I was always clear the environmental assessments being sought will take time and as a result we have until 2028 to complete that process,” Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said.

“Given the scale and significance of this task, as well as the time required between now and when the assessments will become available, I am committed to continued stakeholder engagement, two-way communication and factual information being shared as early as possible.”

The Department has been keen to state that the reports “do not pass any form of judgment” on the appropriate assessment process currently underway and that they are just intended on bring information to parties that may seek it.

Assessment

The necessity to undertake the appropriate assessment process stems from a European Court of Justice case taken against the Netherlands that saw grazing and fertiliser applications near EU-designated sites classed as a “project” under the Habitats Directive.

Ireland must prove that giving nitrates derogations the go ahead means that these “plans” do not endanger the integrity of these sites before 2028 under the derogation conditions handed down by the Commission last year.

The process will be undertaken as the Water Framework Directive deadline, applying to all waterbodies across the EU – bar a few – looms next year. The directive’s requirements set out that relevant waterbodies must reach “at least good ecological status” by 2027.

The Department has said that “no EU member state will achieve this” and that Ireland currently sees “slightly more than half” of its surface waters at this status.