Taoiseach of ‘strong view’ that rewetting be voluntary

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is of a “strong view” that there will be no compulsory rewetting targets for farmers.

Varadkar also said that targets for rewetting land, included in Europe’s Nature Restoration law, should be “realistic” and that his Government will implement the new law “in a way that does not impose obligations on Irish farmers”.

“It is my very strong view that any rewetting of privately owned farmland should be both voluntary and properly remunerated and compensated by the Government and the European Union,” he said.

He was speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday.

Scaremongering

The Taoiseach insisted that he has not been engaged in “scaremongering” when it comes to Europe’s rewetting targets and warned against such behaviour.

He drew attention to the fact that the Nature Restoration Law is, at the moment, “only a proposal”.

“There are different proposals being negotiated at the moment in respect of the EU nature restoration law. There is a proposal before the European Parliament which is very radical.

“There is a proposal at the European Council on which the Government is currently negotiating. There is also a proposal made by the European Commission.

“At a certain point, we get to trialogue and we try to reach an agreement between those three different bodies,” he explained.

Irish position

However, Varadkar claimed that the position of his Government on nature restoration is “very clear.”

“We support an EU nature restoration law. We think it is a good idea. It is about a lot more than rewetting. It is also about urban areas and increased biodiversity in urban and suburban areas.

“However, we are also very clear on this that we do not support imposing on Irish farmers rewetting obligations that are compulsory,” he said.

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