Legal amendments to existing water quality regulations will be introduced to enforce any proposed restrictions on the use of unprotected urea, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.

A consultation document titled “Proposed Additional Measures to the Fifth Nitrates Action Programme” recently confirmed that restricting the use of unprotected granular urea from September 2025 remains an option for Government.

The Department stated that the legal basis for introducing the proposed restrictions on unprotected urea had “been considered as part of the policy development process” and were in line with “normal legislative process”.

“It is proposed that the restriction on the use of unprotected urea be legally applied through an amendment to the Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters Regulations (SI 113 of 2022),” a Department spokesperson said.

“The restriction on the use of unprotected urea in granular form is proposed to apply with effect from 15 September 2025 to allow an appropriate lead time to utilise any stocks within the fertiliser distribution chain and on farm,” the spokesperson explained to this newspaper.

Restrictions

The proposed restrictions on the use of straight urea are currently subject to a public consultation which will inform any final decisions, the Department added.

Other additional Nitrates Action Programme measures proposed in the discussion document include: a 5% cut in nitrogen usage; the extension of the 220kg organic N/ha derogation limit to most of the country, tighter controls on the export of slurry and a cut to the crude protein levels in compound feed for grazing cows.