TD views on rewetting: ‘unfair to expect farmers to just lie down’

Twenty TDs and senators joined the ICMSA’s briefing on the farmer implications of the Bord na Móna midlands rewetting project in Leinster House last week.

Progression

Politicians from across opposition and government parties warned of the widespread impact of rewetting on rural communities and called for further consultation and feasibility studies before proposals are progressed.

“It’s unfair to expect farmers to just lie down and take this lightly. They’re fighting for the next generation of farming.

“There are very genuine concerns that [farmers] have. If any of us have property or land, we wouldn’t like to see damage done to it in any shape or form.

“It is very important that we are all united as rural TDs. Whether they be in Offaly, Laois, Galway, Roscommon, this isn’t going to just stop in the midlands. It’s going to be a very widespread issue.”

“I’m quite worried with how these [rewetting] conversations are going. The reality is that there will be changes that we all have to make and it’s really important to do it together and that we work with people who are impacted to make sure that they’re not.

“I am concerned that there hasn’t been consultation. That would be really important to do and I will follow up with [Minister Eamon Ryan].”

“It’s so important that we hear from farmers directly on this. The next step is a meeting between Minister Ryan and the ICMSA with a couple of farm representatives. He has to hear directly from farmers.

“I think as we move forward, everyone will play their part in relation to climate action. Farmers are ready, willing and able to do that but it can’t just be engagement any more. It’s not just the Department of Agriculture, it’s the Department and Minister for the Environment and he will have to come to the table on a whole range of issues for farmers.”

“We need to make sure that the real issues are looked at here. The knock-on implications for the entire rural community are absolutely huge here. This will affect everything down to school catchments because we won’t have the ability to build a house.

“Farmers are under pressure every day of the week and this is another issue that could push farmers into a stressful situation. We need to make sure what happens here is done appropriately because it is going to be the precursor for the next decade.”

“For people who broke their backs trying to turn ground around, rewetting is an awful thing to do. We see people in rural Ireland who worked and slaved to turn a place around.

“When I hear people say that it shouldn’t be a ‘them and us’ situation – it is 100% a ‘them and us’ situation. The days of this wishy-washy nonsense in politics, that rewetting is something farmers will have to work with – rubbish. You don’t have to go along with it.

“There’s right and wrong in this world. You can’t get up on a fence and say I’m over here because I’m worried about the environment and I’m over here because I’m worried about losing all the rural votes in the country.”

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