FARMERS could be back facing the spectre of thousands of cows facing slaughter because the derogation issue is not being prioritised, a West Cork senator fears.
That was the blunt assessment from West Cork Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard in the Seanad last week as he warned the clock is ticking on securing the next derogation.
Sen Lombard told the Seanad an opportunity had been missed by neglecting to bring visiting European Commission officials to Timoleague to see water quality improvement efforts at work.
‘The officials came here for three days but they did not go to the right area. They should have gone to Timoleague, where we have a derogation of 250 kg per hectare. The rest of Ireland is at 220 kg per hectare. It was decided not to take them to the one location where the 250 kg per hectare is being reached. That is absolutely crazy stuff,’ Sen Lombard said.
A public consultation is due to take place in November to gain farmer and stakeholder viewpoints but Sen Lombard said the farming community will have very little time to change practices if there is going to be a public consultation and then measures are going to be brought forward.
‘We are deeply concerned about timelines. Last time we had this issue, it could potentially have been the case that 20,000 cows would have had to be slaughtered because the Department’s timelines were not appropriate. We are concerned that this is not being prioritised.’
The nitrates issue crosses different departments in government, with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage responsible for the nitrates directive and the nitrates action programme (NAP), working in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture.
Many farmers saw their derogation reduced from 250kh n/ha to 220 kg n/ha from last January. The current derogation runs until out in December 2025.
In August, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue published his Nitrates Renewal Plan, a €60m programme which includes putting 50 water quality ‘advisors’ in place as well as nutrient storage incentives including planning exemptions and grants, in what Minister McConalogue called a ‘whole of agriculture approach’.
Sen Lombard said as part of a ‘whole-of-government approach’, the office of Taoiseach Simon Harris should be leading the renewal plan. ‘That is where the force needs to go. Otherwise, I fear that we will have another Zoom call and that will be the end of it.
‘We cannot go back to the absolute chaos we had last year.
‘We have done a very great deal in the last two or three years to improve water quality. The farming community has put in place 33 or 34 different measures to mitigate water quality issues.
That needs to be taken on board. We have to build confidence in this sector and we will not do so if we have this drip-drip approach where we do not know what is going to happen next year. We need an update. We need to know where this is.We need a plan.’
