Ms Sadhbh O'Neill:

I thank Senator Higgins, who has asked about the nitrates directive and what would be required of us later if we do not take action immediately. On the nitrates directive, I refer the Senator to the section in the joint report by the Environmental Pillar, SWAN and Stop Climate Chaos in which we address the multiple drivers and threats to the environment that emanate from the agricultural sector. We have a whole section devoted to the issue of water quality.

If abandoning the derogation will bring us closer to achieving the objectives of the water framework directive, that is what should be done but it should be a decision taken quite carefully. My understanding, and I am not an expert in water quality, is that derogation farms are, in some sense, more closely supervised than non-derogation farms. There would be some benefit to the current system if it delivered improvements in water quality. Unfortunately, as we have seen from EPA reports, this is not happening due to a variety of factors. We can see from the water quality data that the concentration of water pollution and deteriorating water quality happens in those areas where more intensive dairy farming takes place. I suggest the Senator makes enquiries of SWAN and the EPA on what the best approach is on the derogation. What is most important is that we achieve the objectives of the water framework directive, which is to improve all water body qualities and to achieve good water quality status in all of them. The trends in Ireland are the reverse, unfortunately.

With regard to the question of stringent reductions, Deputy Alan Farrell, or perhaps it was Professor Matthews, mentioned New Zealand. It is interesting to note the Climate Change Commission in New Zealand has just published its report to the government there, setting out its proposed carbon budgets for three periods until 2035, not unlike the periods the climate Bill in Ireland is considering. What it suggests is that methane emissions need to be reduced quite urgently, by 8% by 2025 and by 17% by 2035. It is interesting the focus is on near-term action because it recognised exactly this point and the cooling effect of methane reductions. It also acknowledged that it foresees a reduction in agricultural production - it has come out with this quite explicitly - and that there might need to be a reduction of dairy cattle in particular by 8% by 2030. If we are using New Zealand as an example of a country similar to Ireland with a similar emissions profile and similar pressures, we need to be heading in a direction that is similar to this.