Farm organisation leaders were united in their outright rejection of a suggestion that property rights would be diluted by the next government.

The proposal, contained in the framework document agreed between Fianna Fàil and Fine Gael, pledged to “reduce the cost of land to improve the affordability of housing, employing all measures up to and including referenda”.

Subsequent media reports speculated that this could take the form of a price cap of agricultural value plus 25%. This was the recommendation of a report produced by Judge John Kenny in 1973 – almost half a century ago in a very different Ireland.

The IFA president Tim Cullinan called it a land grab to “take private property from citizens”.

Housing issues

Cullinan said: “There are almost 2,000 hectares of land under State ownership, which can be mobilised today to address the housing challenge. IFA will not allow the housing problem to be used as a Trojan horse to diminish the property rights of farmers and property owners across the country.

“I wrote to party leaders on 11 March before the talks, putting them on notice that such an approach was unfair and would be fought every step of the way by IFA.”

ICSA president Edmond Phelan highlighted the fact that “none of the three biggest parties had mentioned this in the general election and, in fact, the Taoiseach had specifically ruled out any changes on property rights in September 2017”.

Phelan added: “It is not as if housing was not a main issue in the election. There is something profoundly repellent about the two main parties now bringing forward a proposal that they did not propose in the general election.”

Pat McCormack, ICMSA president, said he “could practically guarantee” legal challenges.

He added: “The idea of compulsory purchase of farmland for house building that involved systematic and deliberate underpayment for the land is more akin to confiscation than public policy.”