Nitrates directive derogation - A very unwise capitulation
Our record on climate-change targets is so dismal that we must accept bad-neighbour accusations from societies that take environmental responsibilities seriously. We’ve hardly met one and are unlikely to meet any in the immediate future. That same accusation applies to protecting water quality.
There are many reasons for this but one was seen again yesterday when Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced that Ireland has been granted a derogation under the EU Nitrates Directive. This allows farmers carry a higher stocking rate than that stipulated in the directive. Higher stocking rates mean higher effluent — nitrates — production and higher greenhouse gas emissions.
Granting this sectoral wriggle room suggests again that the minister’s office is an adjunct to the farm sector rather than an office that represents all citizens. Or else the minister has not accepted the myriad reports from the EPA that confirm that we are slowly destroying water sources. An EPA report published late last year recorded that in the 1980s we had more than 500 “pristine” water sites but that today we have only 21. Farm waste is a major factor in that collapse.
Securing this derogation may be regarded as a victory in some quarters but anyone who cares for our environment will see it as another capitulation — especially as the Dutch government has ordered farmers to reduce stock levels rather than make unsustainable practices legal.
