Environment Council Report July 2025

Activity since last National Council 

6^th Nitrates Action Programme and Derogation. An IFA delegation led by IFA President met with Minister Heydon on Wednesday, 2nd July for a briefing on a request from the European Commission that an appropriate assessment (AA) would be required at catchment and/or sub catchment level as part of securing future derogation. This followed a European Court Judgement in 2018 that classified the grazing of cattle and the application of fertilisers on the surface of land or below its surface in the vicinity of Natura 2000 sites as a ‘project’ under Article 6 of the EU Habitats Directive. As part of the announcement DAFM have produced a FAQ which is enclosed. 

• The Water Quality Group were briefed on the 7th July and advised that a plan would be submitted to the European Commission by the end of July for consideration at the September meeting of the Nitrates Committee. 
• An appropriate assessment (AA) is a process conducted under the EU Habitats Directive to evaluate the potential impact of a plan or project on designated European sites (Natura 2000 sites). It determines whether the plan or project, either alone or in combination with other plans or projects, is likely to have significant effects on these sites, considering their conservation objectives. 
• Ireland’s current NAP plan underwent AA but at national level rather than at catchment or sub catchment level. 
• A joint online briefing of the Environment and Dairy Committee was organised on 7^th July. 

Planning Exemption for Nutrient Storage Facilities. An IFA delegation including Liam Delaney, Laois Environment representative met Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister for State at the Department of Housing with special responsibility for planning John Cummins in April on the promised planning exemption for stand-alone nutrient management storage. The plan to introduce a planning exemption for stand-alone nutrient management storage was announced last August as part of Government Nitrates derogation renewal plan. 

• The Ministers committed to have the planning exemption in place in Q4 2025, to coincide with Tranche 9 of TAMS which is due to open on 6^th September and close on 5^th December. A press release issued following the meeting. 
• The European Commission is considering allowing farmers 3 years after changes to regulation to access TAMS funding to become compliant, this would assist farmers waiting on the planning exemption to avail of TAMS grant if proposed changes to slurry requirements were introduced in 6^th NAP.

IFA made a submission to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) public consultation on Non-Domestic Tariff Framework (NDTF) (Water Charges) in April 2025 to strongly oppose any further increases in water charges for farmers, particularly farmers with multiple connections (copy of submission enclosed). An explainer on the current metered charges and options available to farmers has been prepared by Uisce Eireann (see enclosed). 

• IFA wrote to Chair of the CRU to seek an urgent meeting to outline IFA’s concerns with regards to the potential increase in water charges from 1^st October 2025. 

Extended Producer Requirement (EPR) Scheme for Agricultural tyres. An IFA delegation, including IFA President and Mark Connors, Vice Chair met with Alan Dillon, Minister of State for Small Business and Retail & Circular Economy in April to discuss the proposed extension of the EPR scheme. At the meeting IFA reiterated position that the current derogation needs to remain in place until substantive issues are addressed including legacy issues of waste tyres on farms, greater transparency, cross border issues etc. A press release issued following the meeting. 

• Since the meeting IFA has spoken with Circol ELT, the company that will be responsible for operating the scheme, to get further clarification of the bring centres. A meeting is scheduled for the 15^th July. 

In March, the EPA published second Water Quality – Early Insights Nitrogen Indicator report which showed substantial decline in nitrogen (N) concentrations in selected rivers over the last 12 months compared with 2023 levels, with N concentrations levels in 2024 were comparable with 2016 levels. N levels remain too high in the Catchments of Concern (CoC) (see red area in the map which indicate location of CoC). IFA issued a press release following the publication of the report. Full report available here. 

In July, the EPA published its annual report on Water Quality Monitoring Report on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations in Irish Waters 2024. The assessment incorporates data from over 1500 monitoring stations from the national monitoring network which are representative of the impacts of agriculture on water quality in our rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwaters.

• The analysis shows that, overall, nitrogen levels in rivers have reduced by 10% nationally in 2024 compared to 2023, which is consistent with the recently published Early Insights report.

The Climate Action Plan 2025 was published on the 15^th April and is the third statutory iteration of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. The plan shows that national GHG emissions have been reduced by 8.6% over the two years from 2021 to 2023, excluding LULUCF emissions.

• Agriculture accounted for 34.3% of Ireland’s GHG emissions in 2023 and had decreased by 4.6% (1.0 MtCO2eq) to 20.782 MtCO2eq in 2023, compared to 2022. The reduction is the largest single year decrease from the sector under the Climate Action Plan. Full briefing note enclosed. 

       The Report of the Sludges, Biosolids and other Organic Fertilisers Working Group prepared for the National Technical Implementation Group (NTIG) was published in April. The Group made 12 recommendations, including three key priorities:

• Develop a national register and database to track the movement and application of sludges, biosolids and other organic fertilisers. This would improve transparency and coordination across all relevant authorities.
• Amend the Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters Regulations to require producers, contractors and farmers to record movements of these materials once the register is in place.
• Update the 2008 Codes of Practice for the use of biosolids in agriculture to reflect current knowledge and practices, with a greater focus on water quality and emerging contaminants.

The EPA Air Pollutant Emissions report was published in May and showed that Ireland is compliant with current and future emission reduction commitments for ammonia (NH3), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under the National Emissions Ceiling Directive (NEC).

• Ammonia emissions in 2023 were 6% below 2005 emission levels and are in compliance with the 2020-2029 emission reduction commitments. Ammonia emissions are projected to be in compliance under both With Existing Measures and With Additional Measures scenarios out to 2030. In addition, ammonia emissions in 2023 were 4.1% (5 kilotonnes) below 2022. Based on the findings of the report IFA issued a press. The full report is available here. 

       The EPA published the Ireland’s Provisional Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2024 report which shows that national emissions reduced by 2%. Details from the report below: 

• The development of the Nature Restoration Plan is progressing. There have been 4 meetings of the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC). Paul O’Brien, South Leinster Chair is the IFA representatives on the committee, here is the link to the members of the IAC.
  • There was 1^st Leaders Forum 25^th March in Dublin with 87 attendees, following the meeting draft principle and vision for the plan were proposed, see draft principles below: 

Legal Commitment	Maximise benefit for Nature and Society	Whole of Government Approach & Integrated Leadership
Financial Support & Economic Transition	Evidence Based & Adaptive	Inclusive Participatory Stakeholder Engagement, Education & Communication
Addressing the Climate Crisis	Fairness, Rights and Justice	Shared Responsibility, Ownership & Transparency.
Long-Term Vision & Sustainability	Connection to Nature, Culture & Heritage	Ecosystem Wide and Scalable Actions.

• An IFA delegation will be attending the Farming for the Future Leaders’ Forum on Nature Restoration meeting on the 9^thJuly, in Mullingar. 
  • A Farmers Guide to Protecting Water Quality in Co. Wexford was produced for a tillage event in Wexford on the 2^nd July. The plan is to produce similar guides for all the counties in Ireland over the coming months. 
  • IFA attended the DAFM Climate KIC Deep Demonstration Partnership – 7th Consultative Group meeting on the 7^th May. 
  • Representatives from the IFA Environment committee attended Climate KIC Innovation Dialogues events in Cork and Limerick on 31^st May and 1^st June. The presentations at the event covered innovations for (i) reducing emissions from manure managements enteric fermentation. Supporting innovations and providing pathways to get the technologies recognised in the EPA emissions inventory was identified as a key action to ensure that if farmers adopted scientifically recognised technologies to reduce emissions there was sufficient activity data to have the emission reduction recorded. 
  • An IFA delegation met with Laura Burke and Eimear Cotter, EPA in Dublin to discuss water quality, GHG emissions and ammonia emissions on 4^th June.
  • IFA attended the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, ‘Agriculture and Climate Change: Science into Action’ Conference on the 5^th June. 
  • IFA attended the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications Stakeholder Workshop on Natural Capital Accounting on the 11^th June in Dublin. 
  • IFA attended the EPA Water conference on the 11^th and 12^th June in Galway. 
  • IFA attended the 13th MaREI Climate & Energy Research Seminar on 16^th June in Dublin. 
  • IFA attended the IEEA seminar on Land use change in New Zealand and its intersection with climate change policy – Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on the 26^th June in Dublin. 
  • IFA proposed a The IFA Environment Committee met on 27^th May in Kildare with a site visit organised by Bord na Mona to Ummeras Bog to review the Peatland Rehabilitation Scheme. 

Any EU/COPA developments

• IFA attended COPA WP Environment meeting on 31^st May.
  • An IFA delegation met with Mr Ion Codescu, Head of Unit and Mr Gorka Barrio Montoya, Policy Officer implementation of Nitrates Directive with DG Environment on the 6^th Nitrates Action Programme and Derogation on 26^th May in Brussels. 
  • IFA attended the second meeting of COPA Water Resilience Taskforce meeting on the 7^th July. 

Upcoming issues

• IFA will continue to produce A Farmers Guide to Protecting Water Quality for all counties over the coming months.  
• IFA will continue to work with the Water Quality Group to ensure that farmers concerns with regards to the 6^th Nitrates Action Programme and the appropriate assessment procedure for catchment/sub catchment are fully considered.  
• IFA will attend the Signpost Review Workshop for Signpost Partners on 16^th July in Portlaoise. 
• The next IFA Environment and Rural Affairs Committee meeting will take place on 27^th August.