The Department of Agriculture will apply to the European Commission for a renewal of Ireland’s nitrates derogation this Thursday.

The current derogation is due to expire on 1 January 2026.

The application comes against the backdrop of positive trends in water quality released this week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which shows nitrogen concentration levels in Irish waters had reduced in the first half of 2024 relative to other years.

The data shows that nitrogen levels are at the lowest they have been since 2016.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that “it’s early days, but this illustrates progress and is timely in the context of Ireland notifying today (Thursday 12 December) of our request to the European Commission of a continuation of Ireland’s derogation from 1 January 2026”.

Nutrient Importation Storage Scheme

In August, the minister published a nitrates derogation renewal plan which set out a number of actions Ireland would be taking with the objective of retaining the derogation.

The plan includes a 70% Nutrient Importation Storage Scheme (NISS), a separate ceiling of €90,000 for farmers for slurry storage, a €60m programme to support farmers to implement water quality actions and an advisory campaign.

At the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) AGM last week, the secretary general at the Department of Agriculture Brendan Gleeson said he is “reasonably confident” that Ireland can retain the derogation beyond 2025.

“I’m reasonably confident that we will have a derogation from 2026. I think we’ve done an awful lot of work; technically, politically. I think we’ve done enough work and I think the [European] Commission came away from its recent visit pretty impressed,” he said.

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New data shows drop in nitrogen levels in water

Gleeson ‘reasonably confident’ of derogation renewal