A spate of flooding incidents in recent years has led to headaches for politicians, the public and farmers alike. | Photo: Noel Browne
Assurances given to farmers by the Government regarding the management of the south east’s river basin districts (RBD) have been welcomed by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
Following a meeting with Department of the Environment officials, IFA Environment Chairman Pat Farrell said that individual local authorities will continue to manage river basins in accordance to each authority’s respective approach.
“The IFA sought and received a clear commitment from the Department that they would accept the democratic decisions of Councils and give full consideration to all amendments proposed,” said Mr Farrell.
“These amendments, which have been democratically adopted by the Councillors, addressed concerns raised by the IFA and others and represented reasonable changes that we believe will would improve the plans.”
As referenced in the South Eastern RBD Plan (2009-2015): “The South Eastern RBD is one of Ireland’s largest river basin districts.
“The population is high compared with the rest of Ireland and there are several large urban centres, the largest being Waterford City, but 80 per cent of the district’s population lives in small villages or one-off houses in rural areas.”
Regarding the 2000 Water Framework Directive, the report states that it “allows alternative objectives to be set for certain waters.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.
