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

I thank the Deputy for the debate. I know he is genuinely interested in this area and has a commitment to it. He brings a knowledge to the subject and a willingness to work with all stakeholders. He is right that everybody wants to play their part in this area and that they need leadership and assistance from the Government across all Departments, which is key.

I believe we can meet the challenge of protecting and improving our water quality. We all know that we cannot take a business-as-usual approach. It must be a sincere collective effort to reverse recent water quality decline as the causes and answers are not within the grasp of just a few individual groups or sectors. Everyone needs healthy and well protected water catchments and the Government is working to ensure collective collaboration to the benefit of all.

The EPA’s most recent report highlights the challenges we face as a country and society, yet we also have the policy instruments to find a way forward to address these challenges. If we have a full cross-departmental approach to this through government, we can achieve greater results on the next assessments. I believe the programme for Government sets out a path to achieve that, as referenced earlier.

Building on the work during the current plan, the new river basin management plan will describe the main pressures and activities affecting water status, set out the environmental objectives to be achieved over the period 2022-27 and identify the measures needed to achieve these objectives, including those highlighted by the EPA. The nitrates action programme will also set out objectives to control nutrient loss to our rivers and lakes. As the Deputy said, that comes at a high cost to farmers, who do not want to see this waste either. The majority are well prepared to engage and to work their way through this. With both the review of the nitrates action programme and a draft river basin management plan due to be published shortly for public consultation, I urge all stakeholders to engage in these process to ensure we achieve the best outcomes for our water bodies.

I again thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Government looks forward to engaging with the House on this issue again as we finalise our river basin management plan for the next six years in the weeks and months ahead.

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