Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While much of the discussion is focused on where we can go from here and what is happening out there, geography and geology have a major part to play in all of this. In the part of the world I come from, farming is much less intensive and there are a lot of mountains, bogs and forestry. Much of this forestry has historically been Sitka spruce and issues around this have caused serious problems. People hear about fires and think they are all bad, which is not necessarily the case. There can be instances where burning is needed.

When many farmers hear about re-wetting, they think of flooding. It is the same when we talk about people being radical. People think they are reckless. The word does not mean that but when farmers hear about rewetting, they think ,"They're going to flood my land." This is the immediate jump people go to. There needs to be a greater degree of understanding as to what exactly is meant by that and how it can work because in some instances, drainage is what is required to assist situations. I spoke recently to farmers in the area of the Shannon basin that is quite shallow through the midlands. They were getting assistance from the Department involving ground-nesting birds that were nearly extinct and needed to be looked after. They did a lot of great work on that and then the summer floods arrived and washed the nests down the river and farmers saw the birds flying overhead squawking as three years of work were washed away. People will say drainage cannot be brought in so clearly there has to be a balance here. This is the issue I will come to.

An awful lot of this is about how we bring in technologies and a lower level of production. We need to see more biodiversity and less intensiveness but there has to be a payoff. Farmers have to see that this will be worthwhile. Will there be State intervention to pay farmers to farm like this so that it will be worthwhile for them? The farming sectors that are least profitable such as sheep farming, beef farming to some extent and certainly the suckler cow farmers in my part of the world have no problem embracing all the various schemes that have been introduced such as rural environment protection scheme or the agri-environment options scheme because they see them as money they can get because they are not making an awful lot of money out of farming. However, when you move to dairy or marginal areas or more extensive or intensive farming, they are not inclined to go take any of these routes. What can be done to ensure this can happen? What role can the Department play in bringing about that change?