Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food
Nitrates Derogation: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
2:00 am
Mr. Bill Callanan:
It is not the MEPs who vote on this. To be clear, it is member states that vote on derogations.
I will draw people's attention to another thing. It is important that farmers understand that the actions they are taking to improve water quality are exactly the same actions that would be required for compliance with the habitats directive. We have to make sure that we are not giving conflicting messages to farmers. A good habitat in terms of water impact is also improved by good actions that are done to improve water quality. Dr. Ó hUallacháin will speak on the other part of that.