The Department of Agriculture has told the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group that it intends to extend the 220kg N/ha limit to all areas identified as requiring additional measures.
The Nitrates Expert Group is recommending that areas identified under the Environmental Protection Agency’s targeted agricultural measures map for 2023 as being high in nitrate should be at 220kg N/ha.
This would mean that for 2025, almost all of Wexford, Waterford and Cork will lose the 250kg N/ha derogation.
Most other parts of the country where the EPA identifies as high-nitrate areas are already at 220kg N/ha. It is understood that the proposal is one of a raft of new measures being put forward by the Department, as it seeks to build a pathway for the derogation to be retained at the next review in 2025.
