Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 March 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Fiona Kelly:

I cannot comment specifically on lag times. We have not done any studies on it. We are not studying NMP. We are looking at it from the biological side and the biological recovery of fish and how they recover as indicators of water quality. That takes a number of cycles. It will take at least three years for some populations of fish to recover. It will also depend, as colleagues said, on soil type, seasonal fluctuations in weather and all of those things. Mr. Beckett may wish to comment.