In an attempt to end a long running dispute with Brussels over a failure to abide by environmental standards, the Government will submit new plans to the EU on Friday on how it intends to implement the anti-pollution nitrates directive, Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said yesterday the State would give its latest nitrates management plan to the European Commission by Friday's deadline, and "we hope we will now be able to sign off on this".
He acknowledged the State was the only one of the original 15 EU member-states not to have complied with this directive which is designed to protect ground water from pollution by farm effluent. "I want to see it finished; I want to see an equitable solution and to have this off the agenda," Mr Roche told The Irish Times yesterday.
Agreement on the plan would end a 14-year dispute with the commission over the State's non-implementation of the directive. The European Court of Justice found against Ireland on the issue a year ago, and since then the commission has rejected a plan submitted by the Government last October to rectify the situation.
Mr Roche confirmed on TV3's the Political Party programme yesterday that he would submit a new nitrates action plan to the commission on Friday. He hoped this would be "broadly acceptable", but expected further dialogue with the commission before the matter was resolved.
If Ireland's noncompliance continues, the commission can apply to the Court of Justice to impose a fine. It would be possible to impose a daily fine on the State to continue for as long as the directive is not complied with.
The plan being submitted by the Government to the EU Commission does not have the support of the Irish Farmer Asssociation according to its President John Dillon. Speaking after a meeting with Mr Roche in Athlone, Mr Dillon said the proposals were a political response rather than a scientific case.
"The government programme will impose costs of €1 billion on farmers and he called for a grant-aid package to help farmers invest in storage facilities and environmental equipment," he said.
He said the IFA would be urging the Government to negotiate a derogation up to 250 kg of organic nitrogen per hectare.
The directive requires farmers to reduce their use of nitrates to 170 kilos per hectare to reduce water pollution. It also imposes rules concerning the storage of slurry, and the periods when farmers would be allowed to spread it on land.