A new Ireland Thinks poll commissioned by An Taisce and published today (Thursday 4 December, 2025) reveals that the Irish public are at odds with the Government’s application for a derogation from the EU Nitrates Directive. 

Please download the full Ireland Thinks survey results by clicking this link.​​​​

The study comes days before a crucial EU vote on the derogation expected on Tuesday next, December 9th.

The survey:

The Ireland Thinks research conducted in November found that an overwhelming majority of people (82% of respondents) believe clean rivers and lakes are a priority, with less that 1% saying clean water wasn't very important. 

When asked about EU rules to protect water quality, a majority of those who expressed an opinion (53% to 47%) were opposed to the Government’s derogation application which would give Irish farmers an exemption from EU rules about the use of polluting nitrates. 

The majority of respondents were also unaware that agriculture is the biggest pressure of water quality, with respondents indicating that they believed industrial discharges were the main problem. Only 17% of respondents were very familiar with the nitrates derogation, with the majority of people (44%) saying they were unfamiliar with it. The majority of respondents also underestimated how polluted Irish waters are.  

Despite the Government’s narrative that the derogation is vital for rural Ireland, the poll shows that opposition is highest in rural areas (46%), confirming that communities on the front lines of the water crisis are demanding stricter enforcement, not further exemptions. 

This push for the derogation comes at a time when the Government’s stewardship of Ireland’s water management system is increasingly under fire, with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling last week that Ireland was legally non-compliant with water legislation on 14 counts. 

As a longstanding advocate for water quality, An Taisce has legally challenged the Government’s latest plan for preventing agricultural water pollution, arguing it is too weak to protect water. This will be heard in front of the European Court of Justice on December 11th.  

Dr. Elaine McGoff, Head of Advocacy with An Taisce said: 

"This poll tells us that Irish people care very deeply about water quality and are not in favour of Ireland continuing to seek the nitrates derogation. This is despite the Irish Government making the retention of the derogation a key pillar of their work and expending a vast amount of political capital at an EU level to retain it.  

The majority of Irish people polled don’t know what the derogation is, and there also seems to be a lack of awareness about how big a pressure agriculture is on Irish water quality. This indicates that the public is not as well aware of this issue as they should be, and I would be confident that if more people really understood it, the number of people against Ireland seeking another derogation would be far higher. 

It’s clear to me that the Irish Government campaign to retain the derogation is based primarily on the needs of one specific sector of Ireland, and does not represent the wishes of the population at large. Irish people want clean, healthy waters, it’s time the Government actually started protecting that precious resource, instead of giving it lip service while prioritising the demands of the agri-business industry.” 

​

​

Research background 

The poll was commissioned by An Taisce — The National Trust for Ireland to explore public opinion of the Irish public on the question of water quality against the backdrop of sustained efforts by the Irish Government to get a derogation from the European Commission that enables continued pollution of Irish waterways by the intensive use of nitrates in agriculture. 

An Taisce decided to ask the public what their views were on water quality, if they knew what the main pressures on water quality were, and if they were in favour of Ireland continuing to use that derogation. 

Please download the full Ireland Thinks survey results by clicking this link.​​​​

• Source: Ireland Thinks.
• Sample:1,421 respondents (Nov 2025).
• Margin of Error:+/- 2.7%.
• Weighting:Adjusted for Age, Gender, Region, Political Interest, and Past Vote

What is the Nitrates Directive and nitrates derogation?

The Nitrates Directive is the primary piece of legislation which aims to reduce and prevent further agricultural pollution of water quality.  

A nitrates derogation is an agreement that under certain conditions some EU member states may be allowed to apply more organic nitrogen per hectare than would normally be allowed. In practice, this allows for farms to have higher numbers of cattle per hectare. This is only granted on the condition that it not lead to water pollution. Ireland has now had five nitrates derogations, which are generally given for 4 year periods. During that time water pollution has steadily increased. Ireland is currently seeking its 6th derogation from the Commission, with a decision due from the Nitrates Committee on the 9th of December.  

Water quality in Ireland 

This comes at a time when water quality in Ireland is in trouble, half our rivers and lakes and 2/3 of our estuaries are polluted, and the latest EPA report tells us that the ecological quality of our waterbodies is disimproving. Agriculture has been consistently the biggest pressure on water quality for over a decade. Agricultural nitrogen pollution is a significant problem in the south and southeast in particular, on foot of dairy intensification, and this is where the majority of the derogation farms are located. 

The latest EPA report tells us that while there were some welcome improvements in certain areas for phosphorus pollution, these were overshadowed by decreases in the overall ecological quality of our waters. 52% of our surface waters are in satisfactory ecological health, which means that 48% of the surface water bodies in Ireland are not as ecologically healthy or resilient as they should be. This is a decline from the previous assessment when 54% were satisfactory 

Nutrient pollution was identified as one of the main drivers of the declines, 44% of our rivers have too much nitrogen, and a third of our lakes have too much phosphorus. This is primarily attributable to intensive agriculture, which is a particular problem on free draining soils in the south and east. Urban wastewater, urban run-off and forestry are also significant nutrient polluters.  

Estuaries are the ultimate receptors of this nutrient pollution, and as a result have undergone what the EPA have referred to as precipitous declines, with 70% of them now in unsatisfactory condition.  

The report indicates that nutrient levels are not reducing in our waters. A step change in how we manage our waters is needed to address this long standing problem. 

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Ruling (Nov 20, 2025): 

• Case:C-204/24,European Commission v Ireland.
• Findings:The court ruled Ireland has failed to transpose the Water Framework Directive (WFD) correctly on 14 countsincluding
  • Excessive Abstraction:The court criticized the lack of controls onwater abstraction (taking water fromrivers) notingthat Ireland’sexemption threshold of 25,000 litres per day for water abstraction is “excessively high” compared to EU norms, leaving vast amounts of commercial and agricultural water usage unregulated.
• Pricing Cost Recovery:The ruling noted Irelandfailed toexplain how its water pricing policy encourages efficient use, specifically noting the exclusion of theagricultural sector from cost recovery analysis despite high usage. effectively subsidizing pollution.
• Physical Damage:The State has failed to implement a framework to prevent physical damage (dredging, barriers) to rivers and lakes,identifiedby experts as a leading driver of ecological decline.

An Taisce Nitrates Judicial Review 

• In 2022 An Taisce launched proceedings to judicially review the Government’s fifth Nitrates Action Programme (NAP). The case is being heard in front of Mr Justice Richard Humphreys from the 12th – 15th December 2023 in the High Court. An Taisce is represented by FP Logue Solicitors, and Counsel are James Devlin SC and John Kenny BL. The IFA and ICMSA are both Notice Parties to the challenge