Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has warned Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue that the treatment of farmers in the Burren Life Scheme and Hen Harrier Project is undermining confidence in the Nature Restoration Law proposals.
Read MoreTreatment of farmers in the Burren Life Scheme and Hen Harrier Project belie Nature Restoration Law proposals. Farmers are promised compensation, as were farmers in the Burren and Hen Harrier Areas, but that promise was abandoned by this government.
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara has explained to the Government that some farmers in the Burren and Slieve Aughty regions of Clare are worse off now under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) than they were under the Burren Life and Hen Harrier projects.
After replacing the Burren Life and Hen Harrier projects with a scheme that’s easier for them to administer but leaves farmers and the environment in the Burren and Slieve Aughty worse off, Minister McConalogue’s civil servants are still “considering” a solution without even a timeline for a decision.
I raised Coillte’s treatment of the environment with the new Minister responsible for Forestry and I invited her to Sliabh Aughty to see for herself.