Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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292. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the work his Department is carrying out to address water quality issues arising from farming activities across Ireland, particularly in the south-east of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60679/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Primary responsibility for the monitoring, management, protection and improvement of water quality is assigned to local authorities under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts and related legislation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Environmental Enforcement, exercises general supervision in relation to the performance of these functions by local authorities.

In addition, local authority functions, including enforcement activities, are set out under Part 6 of the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2017. These regulations, which give effect to Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme, are designed to prevent pollution of surface waters and groundwater from agricultural sources and to protect and improve water quality.

My Department works closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on these and on other programmes that will help address issues effecting water quality, such as the River Basin Management Plan and the CAP Strategic Plan.

The current Good Agricultural Practice Regulations run to the 31 March 2022 and a new Nitrates Action Programme will be published in March. A public consultation on the Nitrates Action Programme's Natura Impact Statement and Strategic Environmental Assessment is currently ongoing and the outcomes of this process will inform the final Nitrates Action Programme once all submissions are received (www.gov.ie/en/consultation/72a50-public-consultation-on-the-natura-impact-statement-and-strategic-environmental-assessment-for-irelands-draft-fifth-nitrates-action-programme/). The closing date for this consultation is the 26th January. The Nitrates Action Programme and the associated Regulations apply to all farms.

Improving compliance and enforcement with the Regulations is a key measure in the draft Nitrates Action Programme.

Farmers are provided with detailed information on how to comply with the current regulations and on how to improve farm sustainability more generally. This information comes from local authorities; from the Nitrates Section of the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and from Teagasc advisory services as well as through communications from programmes such as the Agricultural Catchments Programme and the Signpost Farms programme.

The current River Basin Management Plan for Ireland also saw the establishment of the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) to promote and encourage sustainable farming while meeting stringent water quality requirements. This initiative is an innovative collaboration between Government and industry and is supported by my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and by Dairy Industry Ireland.

The initiative supports a free one-to-one sustainability advisory service to farmers to encourage behavioural change, facilitate knowledge transfer and achieve better on-farm environmental outcomes.

On compliance assurance, inspections are currently conducted by local authorities with assistance from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility within the regulations for oversight of local authority enforcement functions and for reporting on implementation and compliance with the requirements of the regulations. This is managed through the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement and through the collaborative Network for Ireland’s Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (NIECE network).