Farming Activities

Agriculture is an important land use in many areas within South Dublin County Council and farming activities can have an impact on water quality in the County. If good farming practices and farm management are carried out in accordance with the relevant guidance and legislation, protection of water quality can be achieved. Such practices can include maintaining buffer setback distances from waterbodies, ensuring adequate slurry and manure storage is available and only spreading fertilizers during the open season for spreading.

South Dublin County Council carry out a number of duties relating to Agriculture and the protection of waters which include:

• Communicating with farmers, their representative bodies and agricultural advisers.
• Carrying out farm inspections under the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2025 (GAP Regulations).
• Carrying out farm inspections in response to agricultural water pollution incidents or complaints received.
• Enforcing the GAP Regulations and other legislation (e.g. Water Pollution Act) and applying penalties where a breach of regulations is found to occur.
• Assessing agricultural planning applications.