The Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) president Dermot Kelleher has described the outcome of Tuesday's EU environment committee vote on the proposed nature restoration law as a “sensible decision".
Speaking from Brussels where he attended the voting session Kelleher said: “It is time to pause this and reflect. ICSA has been steadfast in its opposition to the nature restoration law in its current format due to the genuine concerns of Irish farmers on what it would mean and how it would be implemented, and the abject failure of those concerns to be acknowledged or addressed.”
The vote was split 44/44 amongst MEPs on the environment committee with no agreement reached on any of the proposed amendments that had been put forward.
Following Tuesday's events, the original Commission proposal will go to the EU parliament plenary session in Strasbourg in July.
Extraordinary
"While it remains unclear what will happen here, it is extraordinary that the environment committee has been unable to agree a position and that the agricultural committee has rejected the proposals.
Kelleher added that all Irish MEPs will now have an opportunity to have their say on the proposed law.
“It is vital that all our MEPs stand in solidarity with Irish farmers on this issue. We know that our farmers are committed to continuously improving their holdings in terms of protecting nature and increasing biodiversity but the problem with the nature restoration law is there has been zero engagement with the very people who are expected to implement this law.
It is time for a rethink
"What we need instead are policies that protect farm livelihoods and support farmers to do more for the environment," he said.
Kelleher stressed that no MEP should condone the way this law is attempting to go about fulfilling its objectives.
"It is time for a rethink so we can move forward with a set of pro-biodiversity policies that farmers and all Irish and EU citizens can enthusiastically embrace," he said.
ICMSA
The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) have also welcomed defeat of the law.
Pat McCormack, president of ICMSA, said that his organisation welcomed the decision and the opportunity provided for a more balanced and workable proposal to be thought-through and resubmitted.
McCormack added that the proposed law was wholly inadequate in terms of striking a balance between individual rights and diktat and he said that matters had not been helped by the differing voices within the Irish Government on the degree of compulsion and free choice that the law involved in a domestic context.
"Certain political complaints about scaremongering on the proposed law were incorrect and merely highlighted official neglect of the need to explain fully the implications and calculated consequences of the law and - critically - to take account of the genuine concerns of people rather than ignore them," he said.
He argued that Ministers Eamon Ryan and Charlie McConalogue must understand that it's not up to farmers or other landowners to wonder aloud about how this law would work or work their way through the legal fog to an understanding.
"The onus is categorically on those supporting the law to explain and have ready all the answers to all the questions that arise from this incredibly radical and overturning of the most basic principles of individual rights.
"The exact same reservations that we expressed in Ireland were reflected all over the EU and that is why the environment committee rejected the nature restoration law – we are confident that the same obvious defects will ensure that the nature restoration law will struggle in any plenary session of the European Parliament unless genuine concerns are recognised and addressed,” McCormack concluded.
SHARING OPTIONS