Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan has been called on to reopen the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Farm Plan Scheme, which has been closed since 2010.
Making the calls, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said that this would demonstrate that “restrictions that are imposed on farmers with designated natura land are properly compensated for”.
Speaking at a meeting with the minister in Dublin this week, IFA deputy president Richard Kennedy said: “We have been in discussions with her department for the past 18 months, with a deal yet to be finalised.
“We must have a package of measures in the forthcoming budget which will see the re-opening of the NPWS Farm Plan Scheme.”
The deputy president said that farmers with designated land throughout the country are “being denied their rights to maximise the potential of their land”, due to restrictions on farming designated land.
Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) project leader Padraic Joyce added that discussions held to date will mean very little if the minister does not deliver a proper compensation scheme as part of the next budget.
According to the IFA, 13.6% of the land is designated as either SAC or SPA (Special Protection Areas), impacting around 35,000 farmers.