Some 60 applicants for Nitrates Derogations last year had over 700 livestock units (LU) on their holding, while a further 293 had less than 50 LU.

The figures that show a wide diversity in the scale of enterprises availing of the derogation were released by Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue.

He was responding to a question by Roscommon-Galway Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, who questioned him on the number of farmers in Derogation with over 700LU.

Over half (52pc) of Ireland’s 7,298 applicants to the Derogation in 2023 had in excess of 150LU, while 32pc of applicants have in excess of 200 cows.

It comes after Minister McConalogue defended the Derogation in the Dáil last month after Dublin South West TD Paul Murphy (People Before Profit) said it “benefits big farmers and big agribusiness”.

McConalogue highlighted that many “smaller farms of 50, 60 or 70 cows” would become unviable and unable to produce a full-time family income without the Derogation.

“The outcome of the removal of our Derogation, which is what the Deputy wants, would inevitably be consolidation and larger farms,” he said.

The Minister said the figures were generated using the Department’s data on total nitrates produced on each Derogation applicant’s holding in 2023.

He explained that a dairy cow is generally taken as representing one LU, with other livestock given equivalence factors in accordance with the proportion of an LU they represent.

The LU data released by the Minister was calculated by dividing the total nitrogen from cattle produced on each derogation applicant’s holding by 92kg.

This value has been selected because 92kg equates to the livestock manure nitrogen output for each dairy cow in the majority of dairy herds nationally.

However, the Minister noted that when all checks have been completed, the final number of farmers approved for the derogation in 2023 will be slightly lower than the number of applicants.

Ireland’s application to retain its Derogation will be submitted this month, jointly by the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Agriculture.

Last month, a joint declaration from Ireland’s farm organisations, co-ops and dairy and meat processors requested more time from the European Commission for new measures to be enacted and their impact on water quality to be assessed.

Reporting on:independent.ie