The decision of Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and his party colleague Malcolm Noonan to write to EU environment ministers on the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) has been described as an “act of desperation”.
It emerged this week that Ryan (who is the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications) and Noonan (who is a minister of state at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage) wrote to their environment counterparts in other EU member states calling for the law to be adopted.
The law has been in limbo for over a month after a last minute change in position by a number of member states, meaning the Council of the EU would not have the required majority to pass the law.
Ministers Ryan and Noonan are calling for the law to be passed at the next meeting of environment ministers on June 17.
However, Vincent Roddy, the president of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA), called on Minister Ryan to “acknowledge the concern there is around this law, both in Ireland and across Europe, and go back to the drawing board instead of trying to bulldoze this through”.
“It is unlikely that you would find an EU law that has seen such push-back. From three committees of the European Parliament failing to ratify it, following a close shave at the Council of Ministers, to where we [now have] desperate letters to hold the line irrespective of the consequences,” Roddy said.
He added: “These consequences have been abundantly clear from our first reading of the draft proposals in Summer of 2022, and while we have seen some minor changes, the law will impact heavily where applied.
“Over the last number of months, we have seen politicians both at home and in Brussels sell these minor concessions as a radical redraft that protects farmers and their communities.”
The INHFA claimed that the concessions on rewetting targets on agriculture land outlined in article 9 of the law are “undermined” by the overarching restoration targets outlined in article 4.
“[We] believe that article 4 of the law has always been of greater concern. But that fact that the supporters of this law continue to side-step this illustrates that either they don’t understand the law or, of greater concern, they fully understand this and hope by getting it through, they will get to decide what happens on over one million hectares of land currently owned by farmers,” Roddy said.
“There is a possibility that this could be ratified in June, which is why we have also written to all three institutions (the Council of the EU, the European Parliament, and the European Commission), instructing them that the INHFA, acting on behalf of our members, do not consent to the NRL targets being obligatory on our farmed habitats,” he added.
According to the INHFA president, the organisation is “leaving the option open” for a possible legal challenge by either the INHFA or one of its members, should the law be passed.
Roddy called on Ministers Ryan and Noonan to pull back their support for the law.
“We must learn from the implementation of the habitats directive which hasn’t only failed the farmer, it has also failed in its conservation objectives, and this law, if passed, will be equally problematic,” he said.