Dr. Eimear Cotter:

I believe what the Deputy is referring to is the Water Quality in 2022: An Indicators Report, which we published in July. What we saw there was the biology improving in some areas but declining in other areas. What I always think of is that we are running fast to stand still. We see improvements happening in some areas and we see declines in other areas that is offsetting these improvements. In that case we saw a net improvement of seven water bodies. This is very small and nowhere near what we need to see in terms of overall improvements in the biology. By biology, we mean we are looking at algae, plants, species in the water and the nutrient levels, and we have seen an increase in 2022 in nitrate levels in all areas around the country.