Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I recall the visit of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, to my constituency of Clare a couple of weeks ago. It was a most informative day for many reasons. In preparing for this debate and reading the digest associated with the Bill, I could not help but be reminded of his visit. His initial job was the opening of a new farmers' one-stop shop by Liffey Mills at Ballymaley in Ennis. The turnout of farmers on the day was impressive. This year has been most difficult for the people who hold the sector on their shoulders. Following the event to which I refer, the Minister visited the Burren and got a valuable insight into the Burren farming for conservation programme in Carron, with very good presentations made by Mr. Michael Davoren of Burren IFA, Dr. Brendan Dunford and a host of participating Burren farmers. His day out and about in Clare concluded with a journey across the north and east of the county to Whitegate to speak with a beef farmer knowledge transfer group. This final leg involved travelling through one of the largest hen harrier designated special protection areas in the country, spanning the Sliabh Aughty mountains of north-east Clare and south-east Galway.

The Burren programme is about to enter its second five-year phase. It is a pioneering agricultural scheme that ensures the sustainable agricultural management of high nature value farmland in the area. The unique feature of the scheme is that it has been devised in proper partnership with the local farmers and people of the Burren. This is the most important reason that it has been successful. The farmers of the Burren have travelled a long road since 1995, when they first got together, and there is no doubt that they have engineered, over time, a template that could be replicated right around the country and other jurisdictions if authorities so wish.

This is one of the fundamental issues that this Bill is trying to address. I hope it is not merely window dressing in regard to stakeholder involvement. The sterilisation of east Clare and south Galway farm land over the past number of years, particularly when it comes to the establishment of new forestry, tramples the rights that have been constitutionally invoked in other property sectors. In replies to parliamentary questions I have submitted on the issue, I have been sandbagged with talk about interdepartmental steering groups, stakeholder consultative committees, threat response plans, strategic environmental assessments, appropriate assessments and, to cap it all after many years, a draft plan for public consultation.

The birds directive provides for the protection of all wild birds and requires member states to take special conservation measures for the most threatened species and for migratory birds through the establishment of special protection areas, SPAs, where birds and their habitats have to be maintained in a good conservation status. The State established the SPAs but left it at that; good conservation does not mean people cannot go near the area. This has been proven in the Burren. In the interim and since the six national hen harrier SPAs were designated, the results for the 2015 national hen harrier population survey indicate a decline for Ireland's "sky dancer". It seems that the population could have declined by up to 33% over a 15-year period since the SPAs were introduced. I am obviously not an expert but a calamitous decline such as this surely necessitates the putting in place of something more than a draft plan for public consultation before the end of the year.

In short, the designation of the hen harrier SPAs is not working for anybody as matters stand. It is not working for the farmer or the bird. I use this argument to illustrate the core point I wish to make in respect of the Bill. Section 16(6) of the Wildlife Act 2000 provides that in publishing a notice under section 16, the Minister must have regard to whether, on the basis of the scientific advice available to him or her at that time, the particular area is worthy of conservation. Scientific advice that heretofore has been presented in isolation is not enough. The concept of conservation, as has been proven in the Burren farm conservation programme, must involve actual stakeholders from the very start. In any other walk of life, there would be outrage that a blanket designation in place for almost 20 years has done nothing, while that which it was supposed to protect declined in population by up to 33%.

I welcome the legislation and look forward to its passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas. I hope the Minister will take on board the views I expressed today.

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