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
Ms Mary Gurrie:
We have done an assessment of the contribution of nitrates, as we referred to in the opening statement. In rural catchments, up to 85% of the nitrogen which impacts water quality comes from agriculture. In many rural catchments, especially in the south east, the dominant contributor, at up to 85%, is agriculture.