Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I acknowledge the work the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has been doing to bring commonsense to these proposals coming from Brussels. From various meetings I have had with the Minister, I know he is working hard to make sure that public lands will play a huge part in achieving the targets that will be set down for rewetting and rewilding. That is to be welcomed. On designation, the last time we had a significant amount of land designated in this country, it came in with significant fanfare. For the first number of years, there was a reasonable compensation scheme for farmers in those designated areas, but that compensation scheme quickly evaporated. The capital value of land that has been designated has been decimated. I would say it has reduced by about 80%. At the moment, designated land is probably worth 20% of the value of undesignated land nearby.

When farmers hear about rewetting, a shiver goes up their spine. They are extremely worried, if someone in their locality decides to rewet, about the impact it will have on their land that they want to keep in arable production. Bord na Móna in Offaly has been pivotal in bringing attention to this. There is a significant number of bogs in that area.

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It would be a prime target for rewetting. They are looking for assurances that if large parts of those bogs are rewetted, that it will not have an impact on adjoining land or land in the locality. I would urge the Minister to find a resolution to that and to provide assurances to those farmers that if land is rewetted in their locality, it will not impact on their ability to produce.

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