Ireland’s nitrates derogation allows farmers to farm at higher stocking rates, above 170 kg livestock manure nitrogen/ha up to 250 nitrogen/ha
Notes:
Data for DAFM ranked by number of herds
There is no public DAFM data available by farm, or by townland
The data does not give an indication of actual stocking levels on the farms
There is no easy way to map the data against catchments with nitrates pollution.
The data is number of derogation applications submitted (it may differ from actual number of derogation herds due to applications deleted, in draft when numbers published, or applications ‘under query’)
EC Reporting on water pollution by nitrates and action programmes taken in vulnerable zones.
Member States shall, in respect of the four-year period following the notification of this Directive and in respect of each subsequent four-year period, submit a report to the Commission containing the information outlined in Annex V.
Note: While the reporting comes from the EPA, they have confirmed that the summary text on farm activities, measures and inspections etc included in the report come directly from the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The raw data on the farm activities, measures and inspections used by DAFM to create the summary in the report is held by DAFM
Reports submitted annually to EU in respect of the Nitrates Derogation, which also contains information on general compliance with the Nitrates regulations, information from the Agricultural Catchments programme (administered by Teagasc) and EPA reports
The Commission Decision of 8th February 2018 permits the land application of up to 250 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year from livestock manure under certain conditions.
Article 7 of the Commission Decision requires that maps showing information concerning approved derogations on a county basis be submitted annually to the Commission.
Article 8 sets out the reporting requirements for the purposes of the Commission Decision.
This report is submitted to address the requirements of Articles 8 and 10 and relates to operation of the derogation in Ireland during 2019.
Numbers of derogation applicants and the results of administrative checks 2019