The government’s ongoing efforts to persuade the European Commissioner for the Environment to extend Ireland’s derogation from the Nitrates Directive has been described as grossly irresponsible and hypocritical by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party’s environment spokesperson, said:
“Along with members of the Environment, Housing and Agricultural Committees, I attended a meeting today with Commissioner Jessika Roswall, who is here on a fact-finding mission ahead of the year-end expiration of Ireland’s nitrates derogation.
“Depressingly, I was the only TD in attendance to raise concerns with the commissioner about the quality of our waterways and the impact that the continued derogation is having on our environment and nature.
“I pointed out that a recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that 48 per cent of our waterways are in poor health. Separately, there are now just 20 pristine sites in Ireland – down from 500 in the 1980s – while the salmon population has declined by 90 per cent since the ‘70s.
“I also gave the commissioner a copy of the report on the badly polluted Lady’s Island Lake in Wexford as an illustration of the impact of agriculture on really important sites.
“We are now on our sixth nitrates derogation since 2006, even though successive governments have never met the conditions applied to our exemptions.
“The Minister for Agriculture is continuing to drive farmers towards a cliff edge by relying so heavily on another extension of the derogation. While I understand the fears of farmers, the government should be putting supports in place to allow them step away from their dependency on the derogation and transition to more sustainable farming methods.
“The level of hypocrisy from this government is staggering. On one hand we have the Taoiseach lecturing delegates at COP30 in Brazil about the need for leadership on climate action, while at the same time members of his cabinet are shamelessly lobbying Commissioner Roswall to extend the nitrates derogation – a move that will make it next to impossible to achieve our legally binding emissions reduction targets by 2030.”
November 7, 2025