Nature Restoration law "smacks of a deep and corrosive cynicism” says Kilkenny farm leader

The Kilkenny farmers serving as President of ICMSA has said that today’s adaptation of the Nature Restoration Law mere days after the European Elections “smacks of a deep and corrosive cynicism” and displays “in full” the true attitude of some politicians to farming communities and the rural electorates who will be affected.

Denis Drennan said that he had not the slightest doubt but that this decision had been deliberately delayed till after the votes had been counted and he said it was yet more evidence – if that was even required – that farmers were regarded in some quarters as, effectively ‘voting fodder’ to be told what was expedient and necessary to keep them ‘onside’.   

Mr Drennan said farmers would absolutely be able to identify those parties that had supported this drastically unfair measure, as well as those who had pretended to be concerned but had ‘stood aside’ when it mattered.

“ICMSA’s concerns on this measure are longstanding and there’s no need to repeat our objections; we have listed them exhaustively on previous occasions. But we now need to see – and as an emergency – how this intrusion is going to be funded out of new specifically allocated funding and also an official confirmation that no farmer or private landowner will be compelled or ordered to take actions that the State or any external agency decides upon as meeting individual obligations under the NRL. Any ‘on farm’ actions under the NRL must only be voluntary and at the discretion of the individual farmer”, said Mr Drennan.

The ICMSA President said that any degree of compulsion where the State ‘ordered’ individual farmers to carry out actions on their private property would cause massive resentment and would quickly prove to be unworkable.