Regulation, responsibility, and resource complexity: A qualitative evaluation of stakeholder perspectives on Ireland's Nitrates Action Programme for dairy farms

This paper explores stakeholder responses to policy changes under Ireland's Fifth Nitrates Action Programme (NAP), focusing on the effectiveness of a top-down, compliance-driven approach. Despite the Water Framework and the Nitrates Directives, overall biological status in Irish waterbodies has shown little improvement. Using semi-structured interviews with 16 key informants and responses to open-ended questions from surveys with 42 dairy farmers, responses to qualitative questions, the study analyzes perceptions of new measures and the broader social and ecological challenges influencing water quality outcomes. Although regulation is viewed as necessary to encourage change at the farm level, participants highlighted that it overlooks the complexities of soil, water, and grassland interactions, and provides insufficient support for farmers. Findings underscore the limitations of regulatory compliance alone, pointing factors such as collective responsibility, local ownership, societal pressure, and ecological and hydrological complexity. The article concludes that a more integrated and context-sensitive approach is needed.