The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss “is aggravating and tormenting farmers” and should be disbanded, according to one TD.
Independent Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae has called on the Taoiseach to “disband the Citizens’ Assembly because it is aggravating and tormenting farmers with unfair proposals”.
Deputy Healy-Rae told the Dáil:
“The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, which the government unwisely set up, is aggravating and tormenting farmers with suggestions that exports should be taxed further and that farm payments, which are subsidies, should be brought to a halt.
“I have to remind these people that farm payments are compensation to farmers who are not properly paid for their produce and who, by giving cheaper food, are helping the consumers of Ireland and Europe,” the deputy said.
“This is very unfair. These people were not elected by anybody,” he added.
“The farmers’ representatives and every other part of our community are represented by deputies and ministers in Dáil Éireann.”
The Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss has put forward 159 recommendations calling for greater enforcement and implementation of existing laws and policies to protect the natural environment, of which 17 are specific to agriculture.
The assembly has also recommended the introduction of new sector-specific levies or charges on agricultural exports with these funds ring-fenced for biodiversity.
The chair of the assembly, Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, has repeatedly stressed that farmers have “nothing to fear” from the recommendations put forward.
Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin said that during its deliberations, assembly members “purposely asked to hear the voices of the farmers” and that its recommendations reflect the “respect” that members have for farmers.
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, also hit back at Deputy Healy-Rae’s claims and said that “farmers are on a journey to improve” biodiversity while ensuring that the food Ireland produces “is produced more sustainably into the future”.
MInister Heydon said that the role of farmers and food production “is intrinsic to our economic prosperity, with exports worth €16 billion”.
“Food Vision 2030, our 10-year strategy, looks to grow that to €21 billion to ensure the rural towns and villages that depend on the economic trade of our farmers continue to be vibrant and alive into the future,” the minister told the Dáil.