John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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229. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts his Department is making to prevent the pollution of our fishing lakes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44004/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Responsibility for water quality is a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. Measures under his remit in relation to the protection of our surface waters include the following:

The Water Framework Directive provides a wide ranging basis for the protection and improvement of inland surface waters, groundwater and transitional and coastal waters. The Directive requires that Member States take a catchment-based approach to the protection of waters by establishing river basin districts and management plans for these districts. Comprehensive monitoring of these waters is carried out by Local Authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition, measures to protect ground and surface waters, including drinking water sources, from agricultural pollution are contained in Ireland's third National Nitrates Action Programme which is given legal effect by the consolidated European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014.

These Regulations establish a legal requirement for farmers to comply with good agricultural practice in the management of all fertilisers on their farms, including manures and slurries. My Department checks compliance with these Regulations under the Cross-Compliance process and also carries out farm inspections on behalf of Local Authorities.

My Department also funds the Teagasc Agricultural Catchment Programme (ACP), established for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of the Nitrates Regulations. This Programme has published work which shows a positive change in lake water quality. The decrease in diffuse nutrient losses arises from a combination of agri-environment schemes, the introduction of a group water scheme and the implementation of the Nitrates Regulations.

In 2012, the EPA published an interim report entitled ‘Ireland’s Environment 2012’ which related to the 2008-2010 period. This report ranks Ireland favourably in a comparison of nutrients and chlorophyll against other European countries. Ireland has the third lowest concentrations of total phosphorus; the fourth lowest concentrations of chlorophyll and ammonia; and the seventh lowest concentrations of nitrate in a representative network of lakes.