Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

150 Chapter 6: Soil Figure 6.8  Irish peat bog Credit: Mark McCorry, Bord na Móna 3 echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/16596982/report_pops_ie_en.pdf/f31f7f36-fa84-d599-6cd6- 7f65b9aaf9cd?t=1667378478475 Part B indicators: criteria set at Member State level Excess nutrient content in soil. Phosphorus is essential for plant health. Excess phosphorus in soils affects water quality (see Chapter 8) and contributes to biodiversity decline and human health risks. The EU Soil Observatory model maps lands where the phosphorus surplus exceeds the threshold used by many European countries to define phosphorus excess (50 mg/kg). Teagasc sampling programmes have identified that 63% of Ireland’s soil is deficient in soil phosphorus (O’Donnell et al. , 2021). This results in a high dependency on fertiliser application in Ireland. Between 12% and 20% of the country’s soils have sufficient or excess phosphorus (O’Donnell et al. , 2021); this is consistent with the modelled values for phosphorus excess from the EU Soil Observatory. Excess phosphorus is a greater issue in agricultural soils with poor drainage and is detrimental to the ecological health of rivers and lakes (EPA, 2022). Soil contamination. The proposed soil monitoring law will require Member States to create a register of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites. While there is no register of contaminated soils or sites in Ireland, data sources exist that could be used to inform such a register. For example, historical mine sites were assessed in 2009 by Geological Survey Ireland and the EPA. The EPA also maintains a register of data from local authorities on closed, unregulated landfills (sites that operated in a local authority area without a waste licence between July 1977 and March 1997). The EPA also reports to the European Chemicals Agency on the implementation of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Regulation (S.I. No. 146/2020); this includes sites contaminated with POPs. 3 Furthermore, the EU Soil Observatory used data from the Land Use and Coverage Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) to model potential soil pollution from copper, mercury and zinc and has identified areas that are above their proposed safe thresholds for mercury and/or zinc.