Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to outline the position in respect of the spreading periods for organic fertilisers. I thank Deputy Scanlon for raising the matter and for giving me the opportunity to bring some clarity to it.

The nitrates directive and Ireland's nitrates action programme are given legal effect by the consolidated European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014, as amended. The objective of the regulations is to protect ground and surface waters, including drinking water sources, primarily through the management of livestock manures and other fertilisers. Good agricultural practice involves the land spreading of organic fertilisers as early as practicable in the growing season to maximise the uptake of nutrients by crops and to minimise pollution risks to water courses and ground waters.

In accordance with the requirements of the nitrates directive, the regulations mandate closed periods when the application of certain types of fertilisers is prohibited. In addition, the regulations prohibit such application at any time of the year when the ground is frozen or waterlogged or when heavy rain is forecast. Specified closed periods are a key feature of the directive in all member states. The closed periods in Ireland were decided following extensive public consultation and discussions with farming bodies and the European Commission. Recent data from the agricultural catchments programme, which is operated by Teagasc, support the current closed periods in Ireland. A key message from the research is that there are disproportionately high nutrient losses to waters during the winter. The current closed period coincides with the time during which risks of incidental nutrient losses to water are at their highest.

The expert review group that was established to manage the review of the nitrates action programme in 2013 considered whether the current closed periods were sufficient. The group was of the opinion that any change in or relaxation of the closed periods would need to be supported by science. This view was also strongly expressed by the European Commission. Having considered all the information available to it, the group concluded that no scientific evidence had been provided to it to support increased flexibility in light of the risks from spreading at this time of the year. The expert review group also agreed that the shoulder periods on either side of the opening and closing dates should be considered risky times for nutrient losses to water. As a precautionary measure, the group recommended that the stipulated setback distance from surface waters should be doubled from 5 m to 10 m for two weeks before the commencement of the closed period and two weeks after the conclusion of the closed period.

On foot of negotiations with the Commission, the current third nitrates action programme clarified that soiled farmyard water, depending on the level of dry matter content, does not need to be treated as slurry. This is of benefit to dairy farmers in addressing slurry storage capacity issues. In order to prevent an elevated risk of pollution to water bodies and the danger of the contamination of drinking water supplies, the Minister has no plans at this time to consider an extension to the period for spreading slurry in 2016. However, he will keep the matter under review. I hope my reply has been of some assistance to the Deputy.

See this speech in context