Nitrates Derogation: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28 ============================================================ Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South I thank Members for facilitating this debate on the nitrates derogation and its importance not just to our farmers, but to our rural economy and our overall efforts towards sustainability in all its forms. We recognise that to deliver environmental sustainability and improve our water quality, our farmers need to be economically sustainable. That goes to the heart of what the nitrates derogation does. It facilitates farmers to be profitable and to be able to invest in their farms and in measures to improve water quality. A key commitment in the programme for Government and a key priority for me, as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, was to ensure an extension to Ireland's nitrates derogation. Following significant engagement in November of last year, the European Commission proposed an implementing decision granting an extension to our derogation for a further three years. This was passed unanimously in a vote of EU member states at the nitrates committee in Brussels in December. It took significant effort, justification and data to achieve this outcome. For over a year, there has been ongoing bilateral engagement with the European Commission, complemented by presentations to our fellow member states on the EU nitrates committee. The significant level of engagement on water quality by our farmers and key stakeholders across the farm organisations and the agrifood industry was also key to enabling us to reach this point. In this regard, the derogation extension reflects the culmination of the efforts we have made since Ireland's previous derogation was granted in 2022. One of the key highlights within this period was my Department's establishment of the agricultural water quality group in May 2023. This group has been key to the development of the collaborative approach that now exists across the agrifood sector to reduce its impact on water quality. We now have a nitrates derogation for the three years from 2026 to 2028, subject to a number of additional conditions. By the end of 2027, all derogation farmers must determine their nutrient balance using AgNav and undertake a grassland management training course. In addition, derogation farmers in the Slaney, Barrow, Nore and Munster Blackwater river catchments will see a reduction in their chemical fertiliser allowance on grassland and a requirement for wider buffers or setbacks adjacent to water when applying chemical and organic fertilisers from 1 January 2028. Most significantly, in light of evolving case law at a European level and the Commission’s requests, Ireland has committed to assessing the impact the granting of individual derogations will have on the objectives set out under both the habitats directive and the water framework directive. As Ireland is the only country now availing of a nitrates derogation, there is an absolute requirement for us to demonstrate compliance with the habitats directive. This will be very challenging. Given the water framework directive's 2027 target of all surface water bodies, with some minor exceptions, being in at least good ecological status and the fact that this target will not be met by any member state, it is understandable that the Commission is seeking assurances that the granting of a nitrates derogation is not impacting negatively on the objectives set under the directive. My Department is committed to completing the necessary assessments between now and 2028. We are actively working to roll them out on a catchment and sub-catchment basis. The level of support that currently exists across the agrifood sector to reduce agriculture’s impact on water quality is unprecedented. The nitrates action programme, NAP, which has been in place since 2006, sets the baseline requirement for all farmers to minimise and reduce agricultural nutrient losses to water. It is renewed at least once every four years and each iteration has provided strengthened measures for water quality. That sixth NAP, signed into law by my colleague, the Minster, Deputy Browne, in early December, has provided the most robust set of measures to date and the basis to underpin our current derogation. It seeks to achieve the optimum combination of measures across regulation, knowledge transfer and awareness raising as well as incentivising the delivery of improvements in water quality. On this latter point, the Government is providing financial support for farmers going beyond regulatory requirements to improve water quality. For example, the Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership has a budget of €60 million, of which €50 million is ring-fenced for farmer payments to support targeted additional measures beyond regulatory requirements. Targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant aid is supporting investment in low-emission slurry spreading equipment and manure storage, with over €153 million paid to farm families since 2015 to support these investments. In addition, my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, along with industry, are currently funding approximately 60 agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, advisers to provide tailored advice to individual farmers on water quality improvements. The derogation allows us to maintain our grass-based system of farming, which is unique in an EU context. Given their capacity to grow grass, almost 50% of our dairy farmers are stocked above 170 kg N/ha. If their stocking rates were curtailed below current limits, it would impact the viability of these farms. It would also impact non-derogation farmers as there would be increased demand for land. It is vital that we use the next three years wisely to drive the improvements we need in our water quality by maintaining and further building on the momentum that exists across the sector. Securing the derogation has given us the opportunity to do this. We must embrace this opportunity. We have a golden opportunity. Compared to last year, the future is in our hands in relation to our ongoing efforts. My Department will not be found wanting in meeting our requirements. There are no guarantees with regard to that future outcome. There was only one guarantee open to me last summer. If I had not pursued the developments I have mentioned in respect of the habitats directive and appropriate assessment, it would have been guaranteed that no farmer in Ireland would have had a derogation on 1 January this year. Instead, we have negotiated a process that gives us time to address those concerns and that gives farmers time to continue with their efforts to improve water quality. We would not be where we are today without all the efforts farmers have made in respect of water quality to date. All of those combined efforts mean that Ireland is now the only member state that continues to be able to avail of a nitrates derogation in 2026. It is something that is very precious to us. We have it for a good reason, which is that our farming system is different. I look forward to working with everybody across the system over the next three years as we continue to improve our impact on water quality, address the issues of concern and put ourselves in the strongest position to maintain a derogation beyond 2028. I am happy to take on board Members' comments and observations and to come back to those points in my summing up. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-28