Kildare County Council passed a motion calling on the Government to put pressure on the European Union to protect Irish soil yesterday afternoon.
The motion put forward by Councillor Sorcha O’Neill requested that Kildare County Council writes to Environment Minister, Denis Naughten, TD asking him to push the EU to introduce a Soils Directive to “safeguard Irish soils”.
Soil degradation now affects about one-third of global land area with widespread consequences including soil erosion, desertification, nutrient loss, and pollution. Despite this, soil has scarce protection under EU law.
Ms O’Neill said that she was “very grateful” to her colleagues for the unanimous support for the motion, which, she said, underlines the “timeliness and importance of action on this issue”.
She added that it is in Ireland’s best interests to take action now otherwise our “food supply is at risk”.
“Studies have already proven that overproduction and overuse of chemicals have dramatically depleted the nutrients we get from our food,” she added.
Source: Green News Ireland
