State has broken trust with farmers

IFDL Chairman Jason Fitzgerald argues that farmers with land designated as protected areas for Hen Harriers have been hung out to dry by the State.

BACK in 2007, the State in which we trust offered almost 4,000 farmers guarantees and assurances in return for designating their land as Hen Harrier Special Protected Areas.

These assurances ranged from a guarantee that land would not become devalued and if this happened, the difference between the selling price and the price of similar non designated would be paid. Afforestation was permitted and reasonable quotas were agreed, a payment would be made available per hectare to compensate farmers for the reduction in stocking rates and for the fact that these farmers were required to farm under constraints.

A three month window was available for appealing the proposed designation but there was no guarantee that appealing the designation would be successful.

Almost ten years on, most Hen Harrier designated lands are completely worthless. Some farmers are desperately trying to sell their land because of health or other reasons. The restrictions associated with the designation still exist and have intensified. Only 376 farmers had access to the original scheme, more have been offered alternative schemes that are vastly inferior to what was proposed at the time of the designation.

But surely at least the Hen Harrier has benefited from this designation? No. It would appear that, not only has the Hen Harrier not benefited from this designation, but numbers of nesting pairs of Hen Harrier have declined within the designated areas according to the National Hen Harrier Survey 2015. The reason for this is unclear – is it lack of investment or the fact that the wrong lands have been designated?

The one thing that the public should be aware of is that these farmers do not seek to benefit from the SPA Hen Harrier designation but merely not be disadvantaged by it. Since the designation was introduced in 2007 farming in these areas has become impossible. The book value of these lands is almost zero and the level of compliance with notifiable actions is making farming in these areas unviable.

The IFDL secured agreement with the former Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and his officials that a fund of €35 million would be made available, through the locally lead fund of €70 million, over a five year period. It was stated in Rockchapel on 23/10/2015 that a grave injustice had been done to these farmers, and he was happy to put in place funding that every hectare would be paid on, similar to GLAS up to hundreds of acres.

It now appears just over €21 million of the promised €35 million is available, this is nearly €14 million less than was promised by the Minister. Although this figure is an indicative figure, no assurances have been given that additional funding will be made available to top up the funding to what was promised. In other words, currently it appears this equates to just over €4 million per year over a five year period.

IFDL held a meeting in Ballydesmond on Tuesday evening, January 17, having met the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed a week earlier. A large attendance was present to listen to the first indications with regards to the new Hen Harrier Scheme. The initial details of the framework for the new scheme are indicating that it will be a locally lead, action based scheme as opposed to the area-based scheme announced in Rockchapel.

The reaction of the large number of farmers who turned out in Ballydesmond was clear and unified. Farmers were extremely angry and feel they have been mislead and lied to for almost 10 years. They have had enough and want the government to either remove the designation and associated restrictions from their lands or reinstate the assurances that were given at the time of the designation.