Minister for the Environment John Gormley has increased fines to as much as €500,000 for those who pollute rivers and other waters with nitrates, he announced today.
Mr Gormley said the new laws are aimed at protecting waters against pollution from farming.
"The regulations will provide added protection for water quality against pollution from farming sources," he said.
Malcolm Thompson, ICSA
"The maximum fines permitted by the original Nitrates Regulations were disproportionately low and did not reflect the potential gravity of offences."
Mr Gormley said the new range of penalties that can be applied by the courts was "more realistic".
Previous maximum penalties of €3,000 and/or six months' imprisonment have now been increased to €5,000 and/or three months' imprisonment for summary, or less serious, offences and to €500,000 and/or one year in jail for indictable, or more serious, breaches.
The regulations also mean that Ireland has finally been brought into compliance with the EU Nitrates Directive 1991, Mr Gormley said.
This will enable the European Commission to close the infringements case against Ireland in relation to inadequate implementation of the Nitrates Directive.
Farming bodies said the massive increases in penalties for farmers were "totally disproportionate" to the offence.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) called on the Minister, if he believed the new laws to be fair, to immediately announce fines of €500,000 for local authorities that cause pollution and one-year jail sentences for their county managers in such cases.
Denis Naughten, Fine Gael
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson said: "The recent water pollution case in Galway shows that the focus is wrongly on farmers and should be switched to local authorities. A fine of €500,000 is not appropriate to a farmer who in, most cases, earns less than the average industrial wage.
"On the other hand, the fact that pollution occurred because a local authority could not get its act together to spend available government funding is a disgrace. Too often, farmers are being scapegoated in order to hide the deficiencies of public bodies," Mr Thompson claimed.
Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman Denis Naughten said the decision to increase the fines for breaches of the Nitrates Directive was "only the thin edge of the wedge" when it comes to the implementation of new powers "forced through the Dáil earlier this year by the former FF/PD Government".
"Firstly, the major polluter of water supplies throughout the country is not farmers but Local Authorities in the full knowledge of the Department of the Environment.
"The latest example of this has of course been the pollution of the public water supply to Galway City," he said.
Mr Naughten added: "The current Minister for the Environment voted on the floor of the Dáil twice against these particular powers being given to the then Minister for the Environment, but now he has no difficulty bring in such fines himself without the Dáil even sitting to be able to debate its implications."