1.3.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 61/7 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 27 February 2014 on granting a derogation requested by Ireland pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (notified under document C(2014) 1194) (Only the English text is authentic) (2014/112/EV) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources(!) and, in particular, the third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III thereto, Whereas: () ) 0] 0] If the amount of manure that a Member State intends to apply per hectare each year is different from those specified in the first sentence of the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III to Directive 91/676/EEC and in point (a) of that subparagraph, that amount is to be fixed so as not to prejudice the achievement of the objectives specified in Article 1 of that Directive and it has to be justified on the basis of objective criteria, such as long growing seasons and crops with high nitrogen uptake. On 22 October 2007, the Commission adopted Decision 2007/697EC granting a derogation requested by Ireland pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (%), allowing the appli- cation of livestock manure up to a limit of 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year, under certain conditions, on farms with at least 80 % grassland, in the context of the Irish action programme as implemented in the European  Communities (Good ~ Agricultural  Practice  for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2006  (Statutory Instrument No 378 of 2006), with expiration date on 17 July 2010. L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1. L 284, 30.10.2007, p. 27. (3) On 24 February 2011, the Commission adopted Decision ~ 2011/127[EU (}),  amending  Decision 2007/697/EC and extending the derogation through 31 December 2013, in the context of the Irish action programme as implemented in the European Communities (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regu- lations 2010 (Statutory Instrument No 610 of 2010). The derogation granted by Decision 2007/697[EC as amended by Decision 2011/127/EU concerned 5 093 farms in 2012, corresponding to approximately 3,34 % of the total number of holdings with grazing animals, 11,44 % of the total number of livestock units and 5,19 % of the total net agricultural area. On 4 October 2013, Ireland submitted to the Commission a request for extension of the Derogation under the third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III to Directive 91/676/EEC. Ireland, in conformity with paragraph 5 of Article 3 of Directive 91/676/EEC, applies an action programme throughout its whole territory. The Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agri- cultural sources based on Member State reports for the period 2008-2011" shows that in Ireland for ground- water, all monitoring stations have mean nitrate concen- trations below 50 mg/l and 87 % of monitoring stations have mean nitrate concentrations below 25 mg/l. For surface water, all monitoring stations have mean nitrate concentrations below 50 mg/l and more than 99 % of monitoring stations have mean nitrate concentrations below 25 mg|l. () OJ L 51, 25.2.2011, p. 19.