Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan “is not promoting” the use of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) in order to expand national parks.
A spokesperson for the minister told Agriland that Minister Ryan is in favour of restoring and “scaling up” Ireland’s national parks, both within counties and across county boundaries “for people and for nature”.
The spokesperson added that the minister wanted to read into the details of a recent report from the Law Reform Commission on the matter of CPOs.
The minister said he does not wish to “scare every farmer”, and believes it is important that people and communities “feel part of any initiative to extend nature reserves”.
“His preference is to work in cooperation with farmers and rural communities, and to provide adequate funding and direct payment for the ongoing protection and restoration of nature,” Minister Ryan’s spokesperson told Agriland.
However, the spokesperson stopped short of ruling out altogether the use of CPOs to expand national parks.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that using CPOs for that purpose would be an “abuse of power”.
Tim Cullinan, the IFA president, commented: “Using CPOs in this way would be an abuse of power and highly questionable from a legal perspective.
“I want to make it clear that the IFA will use every possible avenue to stop such a move,” he added.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA), meanwhile, said that any attempt to use CPOs for this purpose would be viewed “by most farmers as a sinister land-grab”.
Vincent Roddy, the INHFA president, said that CPOs should only be used to acquire land for critical infrastructure projects “of national importance”.
Roddy also highlighted that a great deal of land adjoining national parks are already designated as special areas of conservation (SAC) or special protected areas (SPAs).
According to Roddy, this could see these lands being acquired “at rock-bottom prices”, in the event CPOs are used.
“There is a major issues with regard to property rights and the role played by the state in devaluing these lands through the implementation of the Natura 2000 designations.”
According to Roddy, the state may “look to take advantage of these devaluations”.
“It is vital that Minister Ryan and his cabinet colleagues reassess the process by how the state acquires land. This is of particular concern on lands that they have helped devalue,” the INHFA president said.
He added: “Failing this, it is incumbent on our public representatives, especially those across rural Ireland, to ensure that they do.”