Public Consultation on Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, T.D., invites submissions, observations and comments on Ireland’s Draft Nitrates Action Programme.

The objective of this public consultation process is to invite stakeholders to feed into finalisation of measures for Ireland’s fifth Nitrates Action Programme. This follows an initial public consultation which was held in late 2020.

Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme is given effect by European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 605 of 2017), as amended. The regulations contain specific measures to protect surface waters and groundwater from nutrient pollution arising from agricultural sources. In accordance with the Nitrates Directive these regulations are due to be reviewed this year. In addition there are a number of measures in the Draft Nitrates Action Programme that will be implemented outside the regulations.

The Department is inviting any interested parties to make submissions to help inform the legislative process.

To get involved, please email your observations or comments to wau@housing.gov.ie by 20 September 2021.

To assist you, relevant documents may be accessed by clicking on the link below titled 'Documents'. These include the consultation paper and links to related documents and legislation.

All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007-2014. Submissions are also subject to Data Protection legislation.

Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission and it will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

The information provided by respondents will be used in order to refine the measures in the next Nitrates Action Programme for Ireland.

Please note that submissions received may be made available on the Department’s website, unless otherwise requested. In any event, all submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection legislation. See also the Privacy Statement under the Documents link above.