A TD has claimed that the status of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is “now little more than that of a unit within the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications”.
Independent TD Carol Nolan claimed that this view is a “growing perception” among farmers.
The Laois-Offaly TD was responding to the publication of the general scheme of two new national funds that were announced in Budget 2024, namely the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund, and the Future Ireland Fund.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath confirmed the initial details of these two funds last Thursday (October 12).
However, the details confirmed relate primarily to how the funds will be financed and the procedures for allocating money to it and from it.
Details on what specific businesses can benefit from the funds have not been confirmed.
The Department of Finance also released a regulatory impact analysis for both funds.
Neither this analysis, nor the details of the funds, provide details on what kind of projects can receive funding.
However, for the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund particularly, environmental, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity projects will be key targets for funding.
Speaking today (Monday, October 16), Nolan criticised the lack of reference to agriculture or rural areas in the fund details or the regulatory impact analysis.
“Immediately following the budget last week, I made the initial observation that it had managed to reinforce a view of Irish farming as being little more than a subset of climate action measures,” she said.
“Nothing that has take place since then has caused me to alter that view,” she added.
She claimed that she has encountered farmers who have spoken to her about a reduction in “status” for agriculture in Ireland.
“This is a view that is increasingly shared by the very many farmers who are coming to my office in genuine bewilderment at what they perceive as a major downgrading in status for Irish agriculture,” she said.
“Almost every single policy approach to agriculture is being filtered through the prism of climate action and environmental measures, which would not be such a problem if the level of climate and environmental ambition was not seriously and increasingly detached from the practical realties of what it takes to make a farm operational,” Nolan said.
She added: “We saw that very clearly with the nitrates decision and see it again and again with the complex web of stringent conditions that are being attached to farm payments.”
Nolan went on to highlight concerns over the consultation on private wires by the Department of Environment, which could result in private entities being given the right to lay electricity cables across public or private land.
According to Nolan, this adds to the view that climate change policies are superseding agricultural concerns.
“We also see indications of [this] with respect to the consultation on private wires from the Department of Environment…in terms of the threat it poses to the ability of farmers to retain their land in what is an increasingly aggressive approach to compulsory purchase orders.
“We have to reassert the core centrality of Irish agricultural policy and to stop this slide into irrelevance when it comes to protecting practices and supports that are vitally necessary for the future of the sector and hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it,” the TD said.