At the Agricultural Science Association annual conference on 3 September in the Killashee Hotel, Department of Agriculture chief inspector Bill Callanan said that when it comes to the environment, "effort and impacts" are not the same.
“We do have to recognise that progress has to be made and it's questionable whether we're at that point. We haven't moved the dial here enough in relation to the actual improvement in water,” he said.
The level of non-compliance identified in local authority inspections was 45%.
“That's problematic in terms of if you do want to identify the progress that's being made and the opportunity and the investment that's being made at farm level,” said Callanan.
From a regulatory point of view, there is a new sixth action programme.
Frustration
“I'm very conscious that there can be a frustration with regulation. But I see regulation as simply about doing the right things and a support to the objectives.
"Improving water quality for me is not about compliance or regulation. It's around delivering for Irish agriculture in terms of capacity to meet consumer expectations and that consumer expectation is for good water and to show that there's progress being made in relation to that,” he said.
Watch Bill Callanan speaking at the ASA conference here:
SHARING OPTIONS