The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that the disquiet felt by farming communities neighbouring proposed rewetting projects will grow, as plans have been announced by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to rewet bogs.
Chairperson of the ICMSA Farm and Rural Affairs Committee, Denis Drennan said that concerns around this and similar sites – like the Bord na Móna midlands rewetting project – will not be settled until these proposals are anchored in public plans.
He added that such plans need to be underpinned by appropriate legislation and with guarantees against resultant damage to adjoining private property.
Fundamental questions about rewetting
Drennan said the importance of “getting the procedure right from the start” would only increase as the number of sites being considered for rewetting grows and the fundamental questions around the procedures remained unaddressed.
“The NPWS [has] appointed Bord na Móna as project managers for a bog in Galway, a project that is actually being proposed and driven by NPWS and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage,” Drennan said.
“We have to hope that those agencies will see the necessity for getting the kind of ‘buy-in’ from the neighbouring farmers that Bord na Móna [doesn’t] seem particularly eager to secure, on their massive midlands rewetting project.
“On that specific project, the government and Bord na Móna seem to think that some kind of vague ‘sure we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it’ is going to be enough to mollify the neighbouring farmers whose land will be threatened by the project.
“It’s notable that they had the opportunity to put the project on a statutory basis through the Climate Action Bill and the fact that they didn’t looks very much like they don’t want to do anything that puts them under a legal obligation in relation to the bog rewetting project,” Drennan said.
‘Farmers won’t be fobbed off’
The ICMSA said that it’s important that all agencies involved should be aware that farmers neighbouring these projects are not going to be “fobbed off by some unenforceable assurance that has no legal basis”.
Referring to the midlands project, Drennan said: “Speaking for our members, ICMSA will not accept the so-called ‘Statement of Intent’, and Bord na Móna should save themselves time by accepting that reality.
“ICMSA will be insisting on a clear written guarantee from Bord na Móna and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to make good any damage to neighbouring farmland, where the damage resulted directly or indirectly from the bog rewetting project, and where the damage can be referenced by an independent baseline survey completed before the project proceeds,” Drennan added.
He said that if the concept of a ‘Just Transition’ had any meaning at all then the midlands bog rewetting was a perfect example to show a practical application.
“The midlands bog rewetting is a massive part of this transition and ICMSA is going to insist that the adjoining farming communities are treated justly – that means a written guarantee from Bord na Móna, National Parks and Wildlife Service and any other developers of such projects,” Drennan concluded.