Minister Hackett announces call for proposals for a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Project to address nutrient, sediment and other farm-related losses to water
- Published on: 5 December 2022
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Pippa Hackett has announced a Call for Proposals for an EIP on the theme of water quality.
Minister Hackett said:
“Improving water quality is a key part of our efforts to protect our natural environment. The scale of the programme, with funding of €60 million, is indicative of the government's commitment to addressing water quality declines from farming activity. Given recent water quality trends, we need to take a co-ordinated response to address the pressure that agriculture can place on water quality. I am delighted therefore to be working closely with Minister Malcolm Noonan and his department on this EIP. Our departments have already worked well together on Ireland’s 5th Nitrates Action Programme, which came into effect earlier this year and contains a number of new and strengthened measures to protect and improve water quality. In addition, Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan has an important role to play in reducing the losses of nutrients and other sediments from farmland to water by incentivising farmers to do more to improve water quality.”
Welcoming the launch, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said:
“This call for an EIP focusses on providing a voluntary incentive that will reward farmers who do more for water quality. I very much welcome the ongoing close working relationship between my department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address issues relating to water quality. From farmers to policymakers, we are all committed to the continued improvement of water quality and water courses across the country. This new EIP will play a key role in driving further tangible improvements in water quality while rewarding farmers for their efforts.”
Welcoming the announcement, Minister of State for Heritage at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, said:
“This call is specifically focused on reducing losses of phosphorus, nitrogen, sediment and pesticides to water from agricultural lands by promoting the adoption of innovative best practice in nutrient management, the application of Nature based Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) and other suitable measures.”
Minister of State Noonan further commented that:
“the project’s focus on nature-based solutions can also be expected to deliver multiple benefits for water, biodiversity, flood attenuation and climate mitigation/adaptation. I’m pleased that my department has contributed €10 million to the EIP in support of these ambitions.”
The need for the Water EIP arose out of the experience of the second River Basin Management cycle. Both the Local Authority Waters Programme and the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme involving Teagasc, local authorities, the dairy industry and Government identified a gap in support for farmers implementing targeted water protection measures. The Environmental Protection Agency has also developed improved scientific tools for identifying environmental risks. These tools can help to guide the targeting of the right measures in the right place.
The European Innovation Partnership Agriculture (EIP-Agri) projects are locally led and harness innovative practices, to protect essential natural resources, such as water, on which farming, and the wider community depends.
Notes
The EIP initiative is co-funded by the EU Commission and the Irish Government as part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme and will be continued under the CAP Strategic Plan. In this case, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will fund farmer actions under the successful EIP, while the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will fund the Operational Group’s administrative costs.
Essentially, the EIP initiative involves a range of stakeholders (farmers, advisors, researchers, NGOs) coming together in what are termed ‘Operational Groups’ to trial innovative solutions that the Group themselves have developed.
The principal causes of the decline in Ireland’s water quality are the on-going and, in some cases increasing, losses into water of phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment from farmland; inadequately treated wastewater and physical impacts on water bodies (for example, the interruption of river continuity due to river barriers, and drainage of lands and rivers). Climate change, population growth and urbanisation are each adding to the pressures on water resources and water services infrastructure. Strong and targeted action is now needed across a range of actors to protect water from further decline and to restore water quality where past activities have caused damage.
The closing date for this call is Friday 27 January 2023.
Further information on the European Innovation Partnership initiative and the guidelines for this call for proposals can be accessed on the department website at European Innovation Partnership Scheme, or by contacting watereip@agriculture.gov.ie