The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has welcomed the move to pause non-essential farm inspections, but said that “more can be done” to reduce other types of farm inspections.
Yesterday, Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue announced that his department would be pausing all non-essential farm inspections until April 22, i.e. farm inspection not related to scheme payments.
However, it is understood that farm inspections under the remit of other state agencies outside of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will continue.
Commenting on the pause on most department inspections, INHFA vice president John Joe Fitzgerald said: “It is good to see that the minister and his department have listened and acted on this.”
Notwithstanding that, Fitzgerald said more can be done on inspections carried out by county councils, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
On the HSA inspection campaign that was announced this week, Fitzgerald called on the authority to revisit that move, especially in light of the “enormous mental stress” farmers are under.
“It is important that the HSA acknowledge their remit around health and specifically the mental health of farmers and recognise that inspections around safety at this time will be counter-productive in relation to farmers’ mental health,” he said.
Referring to the NPWS – which is the competent body over designated habitats – Fitzgerald called for a flexible approach.
“For farmers on hills and on designated lands, we must move to a point where farmers are allowed to feed concentrates and silage on these lands, especially where this is the only practical and dry land available to these farmers,” he said.
“In allowing this, farmers need to be reassured that there won’t be any sanction from the NPWS or indeed penalties on their ACRES (Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme) scorecard,” the INHFA vice president added.
He also called for the department to keep the April 22 date open to further consideration.
“The department, and hopefully other state agencies, will also need to be flexible with their timelines. While we all hope the weather will have improved by April 22, if the weather and ground conditions haven’t improved, then the date will need to be extended,” Fitzgerald said.