The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has told the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that it must carry out an assessment on the EU’s proposed Nature Restoration Law.
The IFA’s environment chairperson Paul O’Brien and its hill farming chairperson Cáillin Conneely met with representatives of the department yesterday (Wednesday, November 16) to voice concerns in relation to the law and its impact on farming.
Speaking after that meeting, O’Brien called for a full impact assessment to be undertaken to understand the implications of the proposed regulation on agriculture.
“Farmers need to know how many hectares of farmland will be impacted, and the scope of the proposed restoration measures on these lands.
“In addition to specific restoration measures for agricultural ecosystems, including peaty soils, there are more comprehensive restoration targets encompassing a wide range of habitats and ecosystems that will have implications for farmland,” O’Brien commented.
He added: “I am very concerned that the targets, which will be legally binding up to 2050, will severely impact production on some farms.”
The IFA environmental chair said that it is essential that productive farmland is not restricted and that farmers’ rights are protected.
The scale of the restoration proposed in the law is “daunting”, according to O’Brien.
It can only be achieved, he said, if a “dedicated long-term financial solution mechanism” for biodiversity is established that is not dependent on the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) prior to the adoption of the law.
IFA hill farming chair Cáillin Conneely said that the proposed regulation is “very worrying” for farmers in designated areas who were concerned that the measures set out in the regulation will further restrict their ability to farm”.
He said there must be full engagement with impacted farmers.
The IFA said that it has agreed to meet regularly with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.