The water quality of Ireland's lakes, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters has declined in the last five years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
In its latest Water Quality in Ireland Report 2016 to 2021, it notes that just over half of Ireland's surface waters are in satisfactory condition.
The EPA said that if the current level of progress continues, Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to good, or better, status by 2027.
The agency said the deterioration in estuaries and coastal waters is mostly along the southeast and southern seaboards and is due to agricultural run-off.
Urgent action is needed to reduce nitrogen emissions from agriculture in these areas, the EPA has said.
The report said the overall ecological health of lakes, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters has declined, meaning these water bodies are less able to support healthy ecosystems for fish, insects and plants.
Director of the EPA's Office of Evidence and Assessment Dr Eimear Cotter said that the scale of the declines in estuaries and coastal waters is alarming.
She said that areas such as Cork Harbour, Wexford Harbour and the Slaney, Suir and Nore estuaries have lost their good water quality status, which "directly impacts the marine biodiversity and ecological value in these areas".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, EPA Programme Manager for Water Quality Mary Gurrie said there are a range of pressures on water quality from human activities, with agriculture being the biggest one.
"We are very concerned about the impacts on the south and southeast and we have been saying for a number of years that nitrate levels from agriculture are a problem in this area," Ms Gurrie said.
"The levels from the rivers and in the ground waters are too high and and that's flowing into the estuaries and we are now really seeing the impact of those nutrients causing damage in our estuaries and in our coastal waters."
Ms Gurrie said there is a lot of good work and targeted action going on, but said it is "not at a scale that is good enough" and compliance needs to be improved as there are problems in that area.
"I think the concern here is that we are not moving in the right direction, we are not making progress," Ms Gurrie added.
"We are starting to see the number of water bodies impacted by waste water coming down, but the trend for agriculture is going in the wrong direction and we need to reverse that.
"It is really up to the agriculture community to identify the solutions and to figure out what will work and in which area that will work."
'Extremely concerned'
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN), a network of 25 environmental organisations in Ireland has said it is "extremely concerned" about the findings of the EPA report.
Speaking on RTÉ's News At One programme, SWAN Coordinator Sinéad O'Brien said that despite significant investment in water management in Ireland over the last decade "they are just not paying dividends and that comes nearly 20 years after the introduction of a new water law which has ostensibly been implemented in Ireland over two cycles of a Government water plan called the River Basin Management Plan".
She said the data contained in the report has made it very clear that the deterioration in water quality is linked to an upswing in agricultural intensification.
The report, she said, sends a very clear message that the "majority of the pollution and the escalation of nitrate phosphorus pollution is coming from agriculture".
Ms O'Brien called for stricter regulations especially for dairy farming and in particular the implementation of a licensing system for agriculture.
She explained that currently there is a licensing system for pigs and poultry but "you don't have any licensing for intensive beef or dairy".
As a result of that she said there is no way of controlling the impact that is having on very vulnerable catchments, such as areas in the south and south-east of the country.
"We are saying that there needs to be specific assessments and the best way to do that is through licensing, so we want a licensing system for agriculture," she said.
She described the issues around forestry as "a complicated picture".
"Forestry has increased in its impact since the last report and that will only get more challenging because as we know there is a plan to increase forestry to meet our climate change targets," Ms O'Brien added.
As a result, Ms O'Brien called for sensitivity mapping for stricter regulation.
"There are places where there can be afforestation and there are places where there must be no trees put in and we need that to be strictly regulated," she said.
She said that there is licensing for forestry at present but the EPA report shows that it is not working and "it needs to be updated to make sure we have the right tree in the right place".
Pat McCormack, President of the the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, said that while the results are not trending in the right direction he thinks on-farm changes will soon make a difference.
"I think what is happening on farms as regards the implementation of good science, low emissions slurry spreading and protected areas, that in a very short period of time we will see that trend reversed and we'll be moving in the right direction because it's absolutely paramount for our industry, and for the stakeholders including dairy farmers, that it does move in the right direction," he said.
The ICMSA president said he was disappointed to see the results but said the report included 2018 when there was a very difficult spring and dry summer and nitrate usage was way up and leaching was up too.
