The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, has said that farming “has to change” in Ireland because there has been “a loss of nature in the last 50 years that has to be reversed”.

“We’ve gone from having 500 pristine water systems down to 20. That has to change, it’s not just farming, we have to change how we do forestry."

“We have to change how we manage the rivers, we have to change how we manage our sewage systems, wastewater systems – so it’s not just farming, but it needs to change,” Minister Ryan told Agriland.