The Nitrates Directive and Ireland's National Nitrates Action Programme are the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. Under the latest revised Nitrates Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 31 of 2014, I, as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, am required to carry out an assessment of the capacity of livestock manure storage facilities, in the context of potential agricultural expansion in accordance with Food Harvest 2020.
Since 2005 there has been an investment of over €2.5 billion in livestock manure storage capacity in Ireland. This increased storage capacity facilitates improved management of the nutrients present in livestock manure. It should be noted that Teagasc research shows that environmental lag times are quite long for changed management practice and investments to impact upon water quality, so it is expected that these investments will have a continued impact into the future.
My Department has initiated discussions with Teagasc regarding the survey of livestock manure storage capacity. It is anticipated that the assessment required will be fully completed in advance of the next review of Ireland's Nitrates Action Programme in 2017.
