Dr. Eimear Cotter:

We are in the fifth nitrates action programme, and what we have seen is that, up to now, clearly, over the past five programmes, it has not worked to improve water quality. We still see nitrate levels that are too high, with an increase between 2021 and 2022. What we have said about the nitrates action programme is very much the point we have discussed here this morning. It is about implementing existing environmental legislation and following through in terms of farm inspections. This all falls under the nitrates action programme. Good agricultural practice regulations which are implemented and enforced by local authorities are all connected. If farm inspections were to be increased, if those follow-through actions were undertaken and prosecutions taken where necessary, we would move a long way towards implementing the nitrates action programme as set out in the fifth iteration of it.

The Department, the Government and the Minister have committed to putting in place a national environmental policy position. It is being led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and we are very much supportive of that and encourage the committee to get into it. It brings together many of the recommendations from the citizens' assembly in terms of that coherence and the overarching strategic direction that needs to be taken. Perhaps what has suffered in terms of biodiversity up to now is that it is so fragmented across many different organisations. This is one way of pulling that together and focusing on outcomes.