SEA & AA services for 4th review of Ireland's Nitrates Action Programme

Tender description

Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme was designed to prevent pollution of surface waters and groundwater from agricultural sources and to protect and improve water quality, giving effect to the EU Nitrates Directive. Article 28 of the Good Agricultural Practice Regulations, in line with the Nitrates Directive, requires the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in consultation with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to review the Nitrates Action Programme every four years. Following its fourth review, Ireland’s fifth Nitrates Action Programme will run until the end of 2025. The principal elements of the NAP regime to-date include: • limits on farm stocking rates, • limiting the application of fertilisers, • controls on the application of slurry to land, • the introduction of ‘closed periods’ preventing the application of organic and chemical fertilisers during environmentally vulnerable parts of the season, • minimum storage requirements for livestock manures, • requirements regarding maintenance of green cover in tillage lands and • set back distance from waters, • Greater controls for more intensive farmers. The new Action Programme must be subject to SEA and AA during its development and this tendering process is seeking interested parties to undertake those assessments.