Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Nitrates Directive, Water Quality and Pollution: Discussion
Dr. Eimear Cotter:
We do not. The role of enforcement for the good agricultural practice, GAP, regulations is with the local authorities. They carry out the inspections and take any required enforcement actions and prosecutions, if warranted, after that. We come into the process in the oversight role of local authority performance. Every year, we carry out an assessment that looks at the overall performance of local authorities. In that regard, we have highlighted the need to put more focus on implementing water quality legislation. We come into the process from a local authority perspective. Our enforcement role looks at EPA licensed sites, which is a different matter.