A Government plan to protect rivers and lakes from agricultural pollution is facing a High Court challenge on the grounds that it falls short of what is required under law.
Environmental group An Taisce says the plan, the sixth and latest instalment of the nitrates action programme (NAP), will allow water quality to deteriorate further.
The group applied to the High Court on Monday seeking judicial review of the NAP which was adopted by the Minister for Housing and Heritage last December.
An Taisce already has an ongoing case against the fifth instalment of the NAP which has been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Elaine McGoff, An Taisce’s head of advocacy, said the decision to mount another challenge had not been taken lightly.
“It is a challenge to a flawed and unlawful process,” she said.
“The public at large are strong in their view that clean water should be a national priority. The Government is clearly not listening.”
[ Irish farmers’ nitrates derogation extended by EU for further three yearsOpens in new window ]
Last December, Ireland was controversially granted a continuation of the nitrates derogation which allows many livestock owners to have more animals and resulting nitrate-rich slurry and urine on their land than is allowed under European Union law.
The derogation was granted despite a worsening of water quality in rivers, lakes and estuaries, many of which are suffering an overload of nitrates which leach from lands with high livestock numbers.
A condition of the derogation is that there be an NAP to better control slurry run-off into waterways but An Taisce argues the provisions in the programme have “repeatedly failed to protect water quality”.
“It is therefore profoundly unscientific and shortsighted to just continue those provisions in the hope of achieving a better outcome this time round,” McGoff said.
A number of technical and procedural issues are also raised in the group’s application to the High Court.
It says the Minister adopted the sixth NAP without publishing the legally required strategic environmental assessment statement – a document that sets out how environmental concerns were taken into account before the programme was finalised.
It questions whether sufficient assessments were carried out as it says there was an “unexplained reclassification” of the assessment process required under the EU Habitats Directive.
A report published just days after the NAP was adopted showed 90 per cent of Ireland’s protected habitats were in poor condition, with pressures from agriculture being the main problem.
An Taisce says this shows the NAP is not in compliance with the Habitats Directive or the Water Framework Directive.
The groups says if the High Court grants the judicial review and strikes down the sixth NAP, the nitrates derogation would also fall.
The Department of Housing has been asked for comment.