Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to say a few words about this report. It is the latest in a trend of reports that highlight serious problems with the country’s water bodies. We know from this report that Ireland will fail to meet the most basic EU targets on restoring water bodies by 2027. We can add to that the list of failures on environmental and climate targets. The overall ecological health of the surface waters has declined across all body types since the last assessment period of 2013-2018 and the number of monitored water bodies in satisfactory condition has declined by 1% in rivers, 3% in lakes, 16% in estuaries and 10% in coastal waters. There are a number of reasons for this and urban wastewater and historic under-investment in water treatment and wastewater is one of them.

It is ironic this State spent more than €100 million on water meters in a failed attempt to move towards privatisation of water and charging people for drinking water. It was willing to spend up to €500 million on that disastrous policy with our network creaking and our water more polluted and while urban growth meant much of our water bodies suffered from severe issues with urban wastewater.

For me, the elephant in the room here is an issue that was raised earlier today when the Dáil debated a motion that sought to reduce nitrate use in this State. There is a direct link between the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to grow the dairy herd and create markets abroad for dairy products and the deterioration of water quality as a result of the associated nitrate use. According to the National Dairy Council, Ireland exports almost 90% of its dairy output to 120 countries across the globe. Since 2015, when EU quotas were removed, the value of the exports has doubled from €2 billion to more than €4 billion, in line with a 50% increase in milk production. There is a direct link between the decline in water quality, particularly in the south and south east, and the profits of the very big agribusinesses. There is a direct link between the fact that the Goodman Group could post a profit of €150 million from its Luxembourg headquarters to avoid tax here and the decline in kingfisher and salmon numbers. It is the agriculture policy of Fine Gael especially that has led to this decline and the threat to wildlife and human health.

Milk production in Ireland jumped by 68% from under 5 billion l in 2008 to 8.3 billion l in 2020. There is a direct link between the 40% increase in the dairy herd over the past decade and the damage it has done to our estuaries and rivers. As the profits of the big dairy sector and the industries around it have risen, the health of our rivers and water has fallen. We need to end this unsustainable model of agriculture. It is damaging to the majority of ordinary farmers, our water bodies and the climate. It means challenging those vested interests that have driven the agri-policy here and the narrative that we are somehow feeding the world, ignoring the truth that we are feeding the profits of Goodman, Dawn and a small number of other wealthy cohorts at a huge cost to the environment and our rural communities.

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