Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has said that the proposed rewetting plans are an example of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

The legislation put forward by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is a clear example, she said, of the unstoppable force of the green agenda meeting the immovable object of farmers' rights and international food security.

The Laois-Offaly representative said she welcomed indications from Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue that rewetting would be voluntary and not mandatory.

There was still, she said, a long road to travel before such a flexible approach was endorsed at EU level.

'Writing on the wall'

“The writing is on the wall in terms of just how far the proposals made by president von der Leyen can be pushed," she said.

“On the one hand, this is a welcome sign, in that finally people are waking up to the dangers involved in pursuing such punitive, unrealistic and unworkable targets.

“On the other hand, it is also clear that major political groupings across the EU are plainly terrified of the fact that they have awakened a sleeping giant in terms of the rural communities who are most impacted," she said.

Whatever is required to deliver genuine and sustainable levels of food security must be achieved, she said, while maintaining a healthy and realistic level of environmental ambition.