Kerry County Council had the fourth worst farm inspection rate in the country in 2024.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set Kerry the target of conducting 106 slurry-spreading and slurry management inspections last year
It conducted 44 water protection inspections, or just 42 percent of the National Agricultural Inspection Programme target.
That's according to TheJournal.ie.
The EPA set a target of over 3,300 (3,346) farm inspections for 2024 across 28 local authorities.
However, just over 2,800 (2,810) inspections were completed nationwide last year, leaving councils almost 20% short of the target.
Carlow, Cork and Monaghan County Councils inspected more farms than they were required to, making up for some of the shortfalls elsewhere.
The target for 2025 has increased to 4,500 inspections, meaning local authorities like Kerry will need to significantly scale up their programmes to meet this year’s targets.
Kerry County Council told TheJournal.ie that the “recruitment of staff to carry out these inspections has proved challenging”.
The website also states that it understands sufficient staff are now in place in Kerry; however, with the number of inspections set to rise in 2025, further recruitment may be required.
In a statement to Radio Kerry News, Kerry County Council said it "has recently completed the recruitment of additional staff for the farm inspection area, and we are working towards achieving our inspection targets".
