The European Parliament needs to provide “certainty” to Irish farmers that “contradictory policies will not be put in place for a very short duration,” Fianna Fáil MEP, Billy Kelleher, has warned.
The MEP told Agriland: “We can’t have a situation where we have contradictory policies, or policies that aren’t thought through so after a short space of time they realise that this policy is having an unforeseen consequence and they then have to change it.
“The reason I raised concerns about the Nature Restoration Law is because the European Parliament is a co-legislator in this, the parliament’s original proposals that were going to go before its committee were very extreme.
“In terms of the targets they set – they were more than double than the commission had proposed last year – it was completely at variance at the council’s position.
“My concern has always been that the parliament had gone too far in terms of setting targets for the rewetting of land in Ireland , it would have been impossible to achieve that on publicly owned lands and that’s why I raised the issues around the need to revisit it.”
He believes the European Parliament has taken on board these concerns and said its position has “softened” and that the rapporteur in charge of the file has retabled the commission’s position which he said is a “positive step”.
“We still have work to do. I want to ensure that we have a proper Nature Restoration Law that we protect biodiversity, that we enhance water policy and that we sequester carbon.
“The aims that were set out in the European Parliament would mean that would have had to be done by going beyond public ownership lands and into private lands. In the council’s position we could achieve our targets by using Bord Na Móna and Coillte land and have flexibility around other areas as well.
“I would like to move further towards the council position and at least have a Nature Restoration Law that does what it is meant to do – which is enhance biodiversity and does not impact on family farms, private ownership and their ability to farm,” the Fianna Fáil MEP added.
He believes the current uncertainty around farming policies pursued by the European Parliament has created an issue around inter-generational transfers in Ireland.
“The big problem we have is that because of uncertainty, people find it hard to invest long-term and young people will find it hard to give a commitment to something when they’re unsure as to what will happen in two years or five years bearing in mind capital investment funded over a 15 to 20 year timespan and land purchase over 20 to 25 years.
“People are making decisions for a generation but policies in Europe are changing very rapidly and that is having a negative impact on certainty.
“With the Nature Restoration Law I would like to see go to a situation whereby we can implement the Nature Restoration Law but that it would be in line with the Irish government’s position – that we get to a place where we have targets that we can achieve.
“Targets that will enhance nature restoration that will enhance carbon sequestering and that are achievable – the European Parliament’s original proposals were completely extreme, I welcome the roll back on that but we still have to see the final outcome of the vote,” Kelleher told Agriland.
The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) will vote on the revised draft Nature Restoration Law on Thursday, June 15.
Both the parliament’s agricultural and rural (AGRI) and marine (PECH) committees previously voted to reject the proposed Nature Restoration Law prior to amendments to the draft.