Dr. Eimear Cotter:

That is a standard disclaimer we put in all our reports. The data underpinning this report come from our national water quality monitoring network. We monitor 3,000 water bodies on an annual basis. We have been seeing the outcomes of the methodology that has been set out by the European Commission. Our data and the trends we have been reporting over many years are consistent with the results that have come out on application of the Commission’s methodology and the criteria it has put in place. We are therefore absolutely confident that we have applied the methodology subscribed to by the Commission as it intends. We have used data that are scientifically robust. The report is also in line with the trends we have seen and have been reporting over many years in terms of our nitrate levels being too high. Some 40% of our rivers have nitrate levels that are too high and phosphorus levels are too high. We are more than happy and confident to stand over the scientific integrity of our report, as we are with all of our reports.