Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A decade of opposition to the Nitrates Directive

In 1991 Europe adopted the Nitrates Directive in order to protect waters from eutrophication related to agricultural sources of nitrate. In early 2004 the European Court of Justice judged that Ireland was non-compliant with the Nitrates Directive as the country had failed to establish an associated action programme. Later that year, Ireland sent its Nitrates Action Programme to the European Commission but it was rejected as inadequate.

By 2005 Ireland was the only EU 15 Member State not to have established an action programme and the country was at risk of incurring daily and lump sum fines.

Environmentalists and health experts supported implementation of the directive, citing that, for instance a 2004 Environmental Protection Agency survey revealed one third of all Irish rivers were polluted, and that 70% of Irish drinking water is taken from these rivers.

However, farmers opposed the directive, claiming it would disadvantage many involved in dairying. They argued that implementing the EU levels would make Irish farms uncompetitive and that Irish water quality was improving. The EU-wide limit of 170kg/ha of manure to protect ground water quality was said to be too low for Ireland, where soils and farming conditions were different to those in the rest of Europe. In counter arguement, others claimed that the directive would only financially affect the most intensive 2% of farmers.

The Government ultimately revised its Action Programme to improve the environmental standards while protecting farmers' interests. Ireland applied for a derogation allowing farmers to use higher amounts of manure (up to 250kg/ha) than provided for in the directive on certain grasslands. The EU accepted the derogation in November 2006. The directive had already been signed into law in Ireland in January in 2006.
Labels: ,

The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.