Six-month delay to nitrates cut on the cards

A six-month delay to Ireland’s derogation cut is possible, MEP Colm Markey has said.

The MEP met European Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius on Monday, where the Commissioner insisted that no change would be made to the 220kg limit but he was “very open to flexibilities” in how it would be imposed, Markey said.

The news comes as the IFA has questioned the legal basis of the Department of Agriculture’s nitrates derogation midterm review. The review led to the cut in the nitrates derogation limit for large parts of Ireland.

IFA president Tim Cullinan wrote to the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, setting out how the midterm report did not meet the terms set out by the European Commission.

In a letter seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, the IFA maintains that the Department’s report is “materially non-compliant with the Statutory Instrument 393 of 2022”, and that its conclusion is “irrational and unreasonable”.