Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue is being called on to intervene in what is being described as “the greatest injustice to be carried out by his department on the farming community in Co. Kerry”.
The Irish Beef and Lamb Association (IBLA) has said that, as a result of a wildfire in Killarney National Park in April of this year, farmers with lands adjoining the park have received penalties under the Basic Payments Scheme (BPS).
The penalties are apparently for burned portions of land on the holdings of the impacted farmers, after the fire spread to their land.
Farmers are penalised for burning land outside of the prescribed burning timeframe from March 1 and August 31. However, the IBLA stressed that Gardaí have not indicated any evidence of criminality in how the fire started.
“Yet, the department has now chosen to penalise farmers who are in the unfortunate position of farming lands adjacent to the national park for the wildfire incident,” the IBLA noted.
The farmer association went on to say: “The farmers affected have maintained, nurtured and kept their holdings adjacent to Killarney National Park in pristine order…These farmers are primary producers, an essential workforce trying to make out a living on some of the most challenging landscapes on the island of Ireland.”
The IBLA statement went on to argue: “The national park is state owned and, in its failure to have adequate fire breaks at the boundaries of lands owned by private citizens, the full burden of responsibility lies with the state.
“The state cannot wash its hands of responsibility on one side and become judge, jury and executioner on the other side, while the primary producer becomes the meat in the sandwich.
“Minister McConalogue must seek compensation for these farmers from his government colleague Minister of State Patrick O’ Donovan [who has responsibility for the Office of Public Works].
“This injustice is just another shining example of overarching powers without an independent appeals body or a proper structure to have a fair hearing,” the association claimed.
“IBLA calla on both ministers to engage with the farmers on the ground and reassure them that, for Christmas, their income won’t be affected because of a fire they had no hand, act or part in…It is beyond bizarre,” the statement concluded.