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Farmers have called for the "vast majority" of hen harrier funding to be allocated to farmers who are restricted in their farming practices in hen harrier designated areas.
Around 2,000 farmers are expected to receive funding under the hen harrier programme, which comes under the Locally Led Agri-Environmental Schemes (LLAES).
It is targeted specifically at farmers with designated land for hen harriers, giving them an additional income stream on top of GLAS and GLAS Plus, Department of Agriculture officials said.
Contractors have now been selected for the administration of the five-year Hen Harrier Scheme. This, along with a pearl mussel scheme, will give farmers access to €35m. However the pearl mussel scheme has not yet been appointed a tender.
Deciding what the farmer has to do
The project will be a joint approach, led by the Golden Eagle Trust, involving a team of experienced conservationists, agricultural advisers and environmental scientists.
The project team’s work will be drawing up the terms and conditions for the schemes, along with the range of actions to be applied and associated payments.
This will be done in consultation with the Department of Agriculture as well as the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Minister Creed has said previously that they will also be drawing on local knowledge and inputs from farmers on the ground. The process of recruiting farmers for a five-year scheme will then begin.
The Department announced in November that it was
We welcome the idea of extra funding and that it is locally led, but it is not what was initially agreed with Simon Coveney as it wasn’t action-based.”
“The previous agreement took into consideration that designated areas are a burden on farmers and devalues land.”
“We went through intensive negotiations with the Government in 2015 and what was outlined then is quite different to now. We have no problem that it is action-based, but it’s not what was agreed.”
Jason says there are approximately 3,800 farmers affected by hen harrier designations in Ireland and that it was promised to every farmer.
He also said devaluation is a huge issue.
“The land is worthless, but we can’t sell it and forestry won’t address it either. But nobody seems to want to really deal with that.”
“The scheme needs to be paid per hectare, between 19 and 40ha. Otherwise it will be worthless.”
Dedicated forum
Jason also called for a forum to be set up focusing on the issues farmers with designated land face.
“There are so many problems that could be ironed out if all the stakeholders sat around the same table together.”
Pat Dunne, IFA national hill committee chair, said it is now important that the team gets to work immediately with farmers so that schemes can be devised that will help to address the restrictions that designations have on their land and the impact these designations have on farm income.
“It is important that the vast majority is spent in hen harrier areas as the tendering process for the pearl mussel has failed to get a project team so far. Farmers in hen harrier areas want to see the benefits of this measure working immediately with payments being made without delay once plans have been drawn up.”
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