Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2020
477. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if Ordnance Survey maps will be provided to all farmers who will be obliged to fence watercourses as a result of nitrates requirements; the support his Department will provide to ensure farmers meet their requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42662/20]
View answerThe European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations (SI 605 2017) and the amended regulation SI 529 2020 are the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Planning Local Government and Heritage. The amended regulation clarifies the requirement first published in 2017 that “Where bovine livestock have direct access to watercourses from the holding, a fence shall be placed at least 1.5m from the top of the riverbank or water’s edge (as the case may be) by 1 January 2021”
The identification of watercourses are publicly available and can be found at; https://store.osi.ie/index.php/osi-place-map.html
This is publicly available resource to view on-line and allows farmers to customise the on-line map and identify their own specific location and its proximity to watercources. This link has been provided to all farm advisors and farm organisations to assist in identifying fencing requirement.
