A European Court of Justice ruling against Ireland for failing to implement strict water control measures against nitrate pollution from agriculture has increased pressure on the Government to finalise a nitrate action programme. It is now eight years overdue.
The court this week found that Ireland had failed to implement key requirements of the 1991 Nitrates Directive by April 9th, 2001, the date on which its judgment is based. No nitrate-vulnerable zones had been designated by the directive's deadline at the end of 1993 and no initial nitrate action programme had been established by 1995, as required by the legislation, the court found.
Reacting to the judgment last night, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said that the decision "was not unexpected".
"Everybody must accept that this directive will have to be implemented. The challenge now for all stakeholders is to move the agenda forward collectively, in particular the farming organisations," he said.
Ms Patricia McKenna MEP last night warned that if "we don't properly comply with the court's judgment, Ireland will face daily fines". She accused the Irish Farmers' Association of trying to block the Government on "this very necessary piece of legislation", adding that it would not be the IFA who would have to pay any fines, but the taxpayer.
The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, dismissed Ms McKenna's "attack on the farming community", saying that the "nitrates directive had been overtaken by significant improvements in water quality". Farmers had contributed to this improvement and were committed to the highest water quality standards, he said.
However, when Mr Dillon met EU officials early last month he demanded that any Irish nitrate action programme must sanction a higher limit of 250kg of organic nitrate per hectare "in much of the country where the water quality is satisfactory". This is 40 kg per hectare higher than the limit set in the directive.
In a major concession to the farming lobby, this upper limit is included in the draft action programme published by Mr Cullen last December.
But it is understood that the European Commission is unhappy with the proposed plan, although it has not yet been formally sent to Brussels. Ireland is the only member-state with no action plan in place.
Since last June, the State has been designated as a nitrates-sensitive zone in recognition of the fact that many inland and coastal waters are affected by pollution.
One of the organisations whose concerns about deteriorating water quality led to the Commission taking the case against Ireland welcomed the ruling. Mr Anthony Waldron, of the Carra Mask Water Protection Group Ltd, said he was awaiting the European Advocate General's opinion about a further complaint against Ireland regarding implementation of the dangerous substances directive.