Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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111. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures his Department or organisations or agencies related to his Department are taking with respect to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate and the Environment report on Lady's Island Lake; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55025/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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In relation to Lady’s Island Lake, I am engaging with my colleague, Minister of State, Christopher O’Sullivan T.D., who is leading the government engagement in this area.

My officials, along with Teagasc experts, are centrally engaged in the inter-departmental Lady’s Island Oversight Group, led by Wexford County Council, which also involves the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Local Authorities Waters Programme (or LAWPRO), and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS.

Wexford County Council, which is leading this project with the guidance of the inter-departmental group, is in the latter stages of developing a site-specific action plan to address the challenges faced by Lady's Island Lake, within the framework and mechanisms of the Water Action Plan 2024. Once the final Lady’s Island Lake Sustainable Farming & Communities Scheme business plan is received from Wexford County Council, it will be considered by both my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

In the Lady's Island Lake catchment my Department, along with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is already funding free confidential advisory support for farmers through the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme, or what is commonly known as the ASSAP.

Under that Programme, ASSAP advisors are working in the Lake's catchment to identify appropriate on-farm measures to address the challenges faced by the lake.

The Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership, or EIP, is led by LAWPRO working in partnership with Teagasc and Dairy Industry Ireland. Through this national EIP, my Department is providing funding for specific targeted on-farm actions which go beyond regulatory requirements. This EIP is designed to complement advice provided by ASSAP advisors and a number of Farming for Water EIP applications have already been completed in the lake's catchment.

In addition, EU and nationally funded schemes such as the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) have been available to farmers in the catchment, again benefiting water quality by incentivising farmers to go above and beyond minimum regulatory requirements.

Separately, my officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to develop Ireland's next Nitrates Action Programme, which is due to apply from January 2026, with the objective of reducing and preventing water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. The proposals for the next Nitrates Action Programme are expected to shortly be brought to public consultation by Minister Browne.