Less than half of county councils around the country found some farmers had spread slurry during the closed period of 2023-24.

Of the 28 county councils in the country, 13 of these identified slurry spreading in the closed period.

Kerry County Council found the most incidents of slurry spreading, with nine.

Both Cavan and Meath county councils reported seven farmers to have spread slurry during the closed period.

Galway and Monaghan each identified four incidents of unauthorised slurry spreading throughout this time, while Cork found three. Carlow, Kildare, Tipperary and Waterford county councils each identified two farmers spreading slurry during the closed period.

A single farmer was found to have spread slurry during the period in question by both Clare, Fingal and Wexford county councils.

Action taken

Not all county councils treated incidents of slurry spreading during the closed period the same; however, the majority did cross report these to the Department of Agriculture.

Course of action

Kerry County Council said: “Decisions on the course of action have not been finalised in all cases.”

Both Cavan and Meath cross reported all incidents found within their counties to the Department.

Monaghan County Council, which cross reported two farmers to the Department, is preparing to report a further case and is still deciding on a course of action for another.

Galway County Council cross reported one incident and issued advisory notices for three others.

There were 19 reports of slurry spreading to Cork County Council.

Four of these reports provided insufficient information and were dropped.

Twelve farmers said they were spreading soiled water and “investigations were unable to substantiate the spreading of slurry in these cases”, the local authority told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Adequate storage

Three farmers were subsequently cross reported to the Department, with follow-up inspections for adequate slurry and soiled water storage.

While Limerick City and County Council found no farmers to have spread slurry during the closed period, 11 farmers were identified as having inadequate slurry storage capacity and were subsequently cross reported.

Waterford City and County Council issued a warning letter to one farmer found to have spread slurry in the closed period.

It is also in the process of cross reporting another farmer to the Department who “dumped slurry in a field”, the council said.

Closed period

The closed season for slurry spreading ran from 15 October 2023 to 12 January 2024 in zone A, 15 January 2024 in zone B and 31 January in zone C.

The Irish Farmers Journal asked all county councils (or local authorities with a county component, in the case of Limerick and Waterford) how many farmers were found to have spread slurry during the closed period. This excluded Cork, Dublin and Galway city councils.