There is a huge onus on politicians to get the Nature Restoration Law right given the experience of farmers in the west with land designations, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) AGM heard.

Brendan O’Malley from the Connemara branch of INHFA said that the last designation process left farmers “bereft”.

“When I bought land and inherited it, there was no designation process.

“I now have 26 notifiable actions,” he said.

O’Malley is questioning whether he should hand over the land to his son as a result of his fears about the potential impact of the law.

“Basically, I can do nothing. “There’s a huge onus on politicians now to get this right. Because ye got it very wrong the last time,” he told the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue at the event.

“We’re living with the designation process – no payments. We were never notified about the process of the designations from Europe, it was done over our heads.

“There’s a huge onus now that ye go out and talk to people this time and try and get the process right,” he said.

O’Malley said that the Government must work with farmers on the law if they are to get it right.

Minister McConalogue was also asked about the potential for a farm retirement scheme in the next CAP.

He said that last time around there was no significant appetite to develop a farm retirement scheme during the negotiations for the last CAP.

Active farmers

He said that if money was allocated to a farm retirement scheme then that money would not go to those actively farming.

“Are we better off paying someone already on pension or targeting money at someone in their twenties or thirties so they can take it over?

“That’s a question we’re going to have to grapple with now as we head into the next CAP,” the minister said.