The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) protest outside the Fianna Fáil think-in at the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Co Tipperary continued into Tuesday after farmers stayed through the night on Monday.

Farmers came in their hundreds over the two days to protest over the drop in derogation from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha, which will come into place from 1 January 2024.

However, having met with An Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue on Monday for a sit-down meeting, the IFA got no commitment that the derogation would be kept at 250kg N/ha.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, An Tánaiste said: "This is not the first think-in where we've had protests from farmers or indeed other organisations.

"I met with the farmers yesterday with Charlie McConlogue, who has been very consistent in his engagement with farming organisations since he came into office and we had a constructive hour and a half meeting yesterday with the executives of the IFA.

Challenge

"The challenge here is that Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe that has a derogation in respect of the nitrates directive, because of our grass-based system and other strengths that we have, and we negotiated that derogation, but within that derogation it was disclosed that if water quality did not improve, we would have the extent of that derogation reduced from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha."

Now, An Tánaiste said that the Government must work to see how they can alleviate the pressures on those most affected as a result of the drop in derogation.

"We have to make sure that we retain the 220kg N/ha at the end of this derogation period which is 2025 and renegotiate for its retention into the long term," he said.

Protest plan

The IFA plans to keep the Tipperary protest going until 1pm on Tuesday.

The association is then looking towards Fine Gael's think-in which is taking place at the Stand Hotel in Limerick on Friday 15 September.