Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 5 July 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Ireland's Water Quality: Discussion
Mr. Ted Massey:
Certainly. I thank the Senator for the question. I have met Commission officials three times since we secured the derogation last March. I met them in June of last year, where we discussed this move to 20 measurements and the possible impacts it would have and argued for flexibility. I met them subsequently in January of this year. That was an online meeting. We presented our derogation report for 2021 at that stage and discussed not only that but also the need for a science-based approach that would be targeted to drive improvements in water quality. More recently - I think it was 13 June - I met the Commission in Brussels on this issue as well.