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:

It is our role in relation to our oversight of local authorities. We have highlighted concerns around the compliance issues in terms of water quality legislation, which is a local authority role, and while the latest figures show a reasonably high level of farm inspections, some enforcement actions and limited prosecutions in 2019, we would need to see that increased and more focus put on this area to drive that compliance we need to see happen.