Over a third of farms were non-compliant when inspected by county councils in 2023.

A total of 1,137 farm inspections were carried out by local authorities in 2023, with particular focus on the level of compliance in relation to agricultural pressures on water quality.

These inspections are being driven by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which in 2022, developed the National Agricultural Inspection Programme (NAIP), in a bid to improve water quality.

County councils have since been asked to increase the number of inspections carried out on farms and every year the EPA allocates a specific number to be completed by each local authority. According to the EPA, the four main reasons for non-compliances during inspections are the control of soiled water, management of farmyard manure, discharges with potential to impact water quality, and slurry collection and storage.

In order to address these issues detected during inspections, county councils mainly asked farmers to increase slurry and soiled water storage capacity and have diversions in place for run-off of slurry, soiled water, silage effluent and farmyard manure.

Over 900 enforcement actions were taken by local authorities following inspections last year. Most enforcement actions were taken by Cork (182), Limerick (98), Meath (86), Monaghan (78) and Galway (73) county councils.

When follow-up inspections took place on these farms, 55% were found to be compliant. Some 3,346 initial farm inspections will have been carried out on farms across the country before this year is out. Next year, the EPA has tasked county councils to carry out 4,545 farm inspections.

Just over 450 farms were to be inspected in Cork in 2024 and this is set to rise to 587 in 2024. According to the EPA, Cork has the highest number of waterbodies at risk due to pressure from agriculture.

Tipperary is next highest on the list with 250 inspections to be carried out in 2024, rising to 350 in 2025. The premier county has 129 at-risk waterbodies.

In addition to the number of planned inspections, all local authorities also conducted farm inspections in response to incidents, complaints and planning applications.