Mr. Anthony Coleman:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the committee for the opportunity to appear to discuss compliance with the nitrates directive and the implications for Ireland. LAWPRO is a national shared service which works on behalf of Ireland’s 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality in our rivers, lakes, estuaries, ground, and coastal water. We are funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide support in catchment science, to conduct community engagement and to co-ordinate the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in implementing Ireland’s river basin management plan. While LAWPRO does not have enforcement powers, we collaborate extensively with implementing bodies to ensure effective co-operation in order to produce positive water quality outcomes, both locally and nationally. While local authorities have a regulatory oversight role along with Government Departments and public agencies, responsibility also lies with individuals and the various sectors that require water as a resource, including the agricultural sector.

LAWPRO’s catchment assessment team undertakes scientific local catchment assessments in priority areas for action and provide evidence-based science to better target measures to improve water quality within a catchment. However, we are only a single cog in the wheel that is part of the larger ongoing effort to support farmers to take the necessary action to protect and restore water quality in Ireland. Other key mechanisms are compliance with basic measures and adoption of supplementary measures through voluntary agri-environmental schemes, such as ACRES, Waters of Life and the farming for water EIP.

I will give some examples of LAWPRO’s work to support the agricultural sector. Where agriculture is identified as a significant pressure, LAWPRO’s catchment assessment team directs issues to advisers in the Teagasc- and Dairy Industry Ireland-led agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme. These advisers then work with farmers to improve farm practices and raise awareness of the local water quality issues. To date, up to 8,000 farms have been identified by LAWPRO for targeted advice by ASSAP. In 2022, we collaborated with the EPA and ASSAP to prepare catchment referrals for nitrogen for 1,231 water bodies within and outside the priority areas for action, which the ASSAP dairy co-ops' advisers used to better target farm visits in nitrate risky areas. We support ASSAP in organising farmer events within priority areas for action and contribute vital water quality information to local farmer association meetings. We have presented water quality data at Irish Farmers Journal-hosted events in Cork, Portlaoise and Cavan, and we have supported several co-op farmer sustainability events. LAWPRO delivers catchment science and management training to ASSAP advisers, the Agriculture Consultants Association, ACRES co-operation project leads, local authorities and public agencies. LAWPRO actively participates in numerous expert working groups, such as the Department of agriculture's agriculture and water quality working group.

Farmer engagement with the ASSAP has been successful. However, lack of funding for farmers was identified as a barrier to the implementation of supplementary measures required to protect and restore water quality.

As already outlined by the Department, LAWPRO and its partners, Teagasc and Dairy Industry Ireland, submitted a successful bid for the Farming for Water EIP. This will provide €50 million in funding directly to farmers for the adoption of voluntary measures over and above regulatory compliance to reduce losses of phosphorus, nitrogen, sediment and pesticides in water. The project prioritises areas, which need most attention to protect or restore water quality and will remove the financial barrier that currently prevents some farmers following the recommendations of LAWPRO and ASSAP.

The measures developed for the scheme will contribute to protecting and improving water quality and benefit biodiversity, flood mitigation and support ecosystem climate resilience. These will include spatially targeted actions and improvements in nitrogen use efficiency and nutrient management. The scheme aims to engage up to 15,000 farmers by the end of 2027 and will have at its core the promotion of water stewardship within the agricultural sector. While this targeted scheme will not solve water quality issues in isolation, it will contribute to the multiagency, industry-wide effort required to protect and preserve our water bodies for future generations, while ensuring the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

LAWPRO has provided a separate submission in response to the six questions posed by the committee. I thank committee members for their attention. We welcome any questions they may have.