Any deal extending an Irish derogation on nitrates rules would require farmers to uphold wider standards protecting the environment, EU commissioner Jessika Roswall has said.
The existing nitrates derogation, which allows 7,000 Irish dairy farmers to spread higher levels of fertiliser on their land than their European counterparts, is due to expire at the end of this year.
The nitrates directive, in force since 1991, aims to protect waterways and rivers from agricultural pollution and excess runoff. Successive governments have argued for a long-standing exemption to the EU law, on the basis Ireland’s pasture-based farming system, climate and longer growing season make it a special case.
Intensive talks are ongoing between the Government and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body that enforces the bloc’s laws, to secure another extension to the derogation for Irish farmers.
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In an interview with The Irish Times, Ms Roswall, EU commissioner for the environment, said a deal was “getting closer”.
[ Nitrates derogation for farmers ‘a top priority’, says MinisterOpens in new window ]
The derogation was about giving some “flexibility” to Irish farmers, but that leeway needed to be “within the environmental boundaries that we have”, she said.
Sources in Brussels and Dublin expect negotiations to conclude in the coming days.
Failing to secure a renewal would cause a major political headache for the Coalition, given the importance of the derogation to farming organisations and communities.
Challenges in the courts meant any extension of the nitrates exemption needed to be “legally sound”, Ms Roswall said. A legal case launched by Environmental group An Taisce has worked its way to the European Court of Justice.
“It’s important to have this discussion, to find a legal, sound decision that is also predictable for both the EU but also for farmers,” Ms Roswall said.
It is understood Taoiseach Micheál Martin has privately raised the importance of Ireland continuing to enjoy a derogation with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Ireland’s leeway on the EU water pollution regulation must be renewed every four years. Poor water quality tests two years ago saw stricter restrictions placed on the amount of fertiliser that could be spread on certain Irish farms.
The commission wrote to the Government earlier this year, seeking assurances that rolling over the nitrates derogation would not have a detrimental impact on protected nature sites, plants and species.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen told a parliamentary party meeting this week that he feared this would put extra, “unworkable” obligations on Irish farmers. “A deal for the sake of a deal is no deal at all,” he told Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators.
Ms Roswall said environment regulations protecting habitats and species were “interlinked” with the union’s water quality laws.
This was not “news”, the commissioner said. “It’s been clear all the time that those are interlinked.”
Ireland and the Netherlands are the only remaining EU states that avail of an exemption to the nitrate rules.
“Negotiations are continuing, they’re detailed, they’re difficult,” Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said of the talks on Shannonside FM on Thursday.
Ms Roswall is set to travel to Ireland on Friday, where she will visit a family farm and meet Mr Heydon.
Ireland was “not unique” in facing challenges around water pollution, she said.
[ What is the nitrates derogation and how does it impact Irish farmers?Opens in new window ]
“The water quality in Ireland is quite good, but there are some spots or areas that are not [going] in a positive direction,” the Swedish commissioner said.
If the commission backs an extension of Ireland’s nitrates derogation, the decision will also need to be approved by other EU states in a vote expected in early December.
