Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Hen Harrier Special Protection Areas

3:30 pm

Photo of Paul ConnaughtonPaul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because pretty much everything I wanted to say has been said already. The delegates mentioned that they were in Brussels. What response did they receive there? Deputy O'Donovan mentioned the designation of land and that it is very unlikely that it will be lifted. I would like to see it being lifted but that could be a dream that will not be realised. The concern is over the solution. Even in south Galway and north Clare, which are heavily designated, a number of individuals - I am not saying they are representative of everybody else - would love the opportunity to plant their land and get an income from it in that way. What was the response in Brussels?

Responsibility for the problem falls between two departments, which have very different outlooks. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is more concerned with the farmer and the National Parks and Wildlife Service is more concerned with the restrictions. Both cannot keep handing responsibility to each other to solve it. Ultimately, the delegates are squeezed in the middle and unfortunately cannot farm the land they want to farm. It is not a question of farmers who want something for nothing. The farmers want to have the opportunity to farm the land in the way they know how or to be compensated properly. I would like a body to have sole responsibility for this because we cannot continue to have circumstances year on year in which one Department says it is the problem of another. If we do not resolve this, we will be at this again in 20 years' time. How did the delegates get on in Europe?

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