Farmers angry over hen harrier designation plan
OVER 70 farmers who have been impacted by the Hen Harrier marked their 10 year anniversary by joining forces with other farmers from throughout the country before the joint committee of Agriculture in Dublin.
The committee session was organised by the IFDL (Irish Farmers With Designated Land) and the session lasted over four and a half hours. Jason Fitzgerald of IFDL highlighted the “continuing consequences of the designation, especially around devaluation.”
Farmers from Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary attended with more sitting in the gallery. IFDL chairman, Mr Fitzgerald also highlighted that despite this scheme being proposed as a locally-led, ground-up approach that it “never happened.”
“Farmers or farmer representatives had no input into the design of the new scheme despite this being a fundamental part of the model of EIP (European Innovation Partnership),” said Mr Fitzgerald.
Mr Fitzgerald said that unless a scheme is put in place that is of equal monetary value to the current forestry incentives with a similar duration of 15 years or more, the devaluation issues will remain.
“This scheme must be open to new entrants at all times and allow farmers to leave without penalty if they need to do so,” he said.
After the committee meeting, the farmers held a protest outside the gates of the Dail.