Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for their opening statements and for coming to speak to us. On the derogation, we heard earlier from the EPA that we are in quite a chronic situation with respect to nitrates and phosphorous pollution of watercourses throughout the country, and particularly with respect to nitrates in the south and the east. There seems to be a correlation between the farms that are granted the derogation and the watercourses that are severely affected.

My question relates to the process. If Ireland applies to the Commission for a derogation in December, how will we in turn decide which farms will get the derogation? I have to hand a copy of a map showing all the farms in the country that got a derogation in the past, and another map that shows the severely deteriorated areas. It shows in the south and the east of the country the very badly impacted watercourses. If we get the derogation in December, how will we manage which farms in Ireland get it? It seems there is a strong correlation and much of the intensive farming in that part of the country is leading to a deterioration of our water quality, which we simply have to address. I do not want to put words in the mouths of our guests from the EPA, but they effectively said we were not on course to reach the 2027 objective of achieving good status throughout our watercourses.