The rewetting curveball landed unexpectedly this week. The need to fast-track 200,000ac (80,000ha) of drained peat farmland into rewetting has really set the cat among the pigeons. Teagasc is on the record saying this number of acres for rewetting is over-estimated. Is Teagasc wrong? Is the drainage status still unknown?

Why in 2025 are we having a brainstorming meeting without farmers in the room to develop a rewetting scheme that sets targets for 2025 implementation and significant short-term targets for large tracts of land? Have the impact analysis studies been completed that show the economic impact on the industry and rural Ireland? Overlay this ‘secret’ rewetting area with the ‘unknown’ GAEC 2 area, with forestry, with organics, and show the impact on the economic and social fabric of rural Ireland in these areas. It’s like we are blind-folding the sector and walking it into a black hole.

The impact on land values will be significant. The impact on house values will be significant. Stocking rates on these lands will be decimated. The economic spinoff in towns with these significant land use changes will be much reduced. We need all the cards on the table to have a meaningful conversation with everyone. We know in very broad-brush strokes where this land is but we have no detail. The incentives for luring farmers into this rewetting project are unknown. A line in a climate action plan means nothing until the detail is laid bare.