The requirement for planning permission for specific works on designated lands should be scrapped, the INHFA has stated.

The hill-farmer body has called for a return to the process in place prior to 2008, where National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff worked with farmers on any proposed developments.

“With the NPWS benefiting from significant budgetary increases over the last two years, there is an opportunity to return to the process in place prior to 2008 whereby the NPWS carried out the habitat assessment and worked with the farmers on any proposed development,” said INHFA president Vincent Roddy.

Roddy explained the requirement for planning permission for fencing or any other action that involves soil disturbance has put significant additional costs on those working designated lands, which could amount to €4,000 for specific works.

“These additional costs were imposed on farmers over 15 years ago through the requirement for planning permission,” he said.

The INHFA maintained that a return to the pre-2008 system would reduce the “excessive bureaucracy and unwarranted costs” which were being imposed on the 40,000 farmers working these lands.