The leaders of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael gave commitments in relation to the ‘goodwill’ payment for compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) served on farmers and landowners for the purpose of road construction.
Both leaders addressed the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA) this week, and were quizzed by the IFA leaders and members present on a range of issues, including this.
Speaking at the AGM yesterday, Tuesday, January 28, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin gave a commitment to fully restore the €5,000/ac payment – which was cut to €3,000/ac in 2016 – if his party found itself in government after the 2020 General Election on February 8.
Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar did not go quite as far as Martin, but he did commit to reviewing the payment.
Paul O’Brien, the IFA’s rural affairs chairperson, called on the Taoiseach – if he returns to government – to deliver on restoring the payment after a review takes place.
“The national roads programme is now recommencing, with new projects going through the planning process. Farmers who have land compulsorily taken deserve to be treated equitably and fairly,” O’Brien said.
“This means fully restoring the CPO goodwill payment to €5,000,” he added.
The IFA rural affairs chairperson concluded: “I welcome Fianna Fáil’s clear and unequivocal commitment at our AGM to provide fairness to all farmers affected by compulsory land-takes, and to restore the CPO goodwill payment. I call on Fine Gael to ensure its review leads to the full restoration [of the payment].”