I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to speak and to answer any questions members may have regarding the impact of the proposed designation of hen harrier SPAs.
I represent farmers and landowners who live in the proposed SPAs and who want to have the option of planting some or all of their land either now or in the future. I am a farmer and I own 100 acres of marginal land which I believe will fall within the boundaries of the proposed SPA and, if Dúchas has its way, which will be designated as an SPA in approximately one month.
The SPAs will have to be introduced. One of the most critical aspects of Natura 2000 - the birds and habitats directive - is that land can only be designated by Dúchas as an SPA based on scientific criteria and scientific information. Once it has been designated, it can only be extracted from the SPA on scientific grounds. Article 2 of the birds directive provides that member states are required to maintain the population of naturally occurring wild birds "at a level which corresponds in particular to ecological, scientific and cultural requirements, while taking account of economic and recreational requirements, or to adapt the population of these species to that level". Dúchas is refusing to acknowledge or implement this part of the directive. It is operating illegally in this respect.
If Dúchas wishes to designate vast tracts of land, there is a legal burden of proof on it to prove scientifically that what it is doing is necessary. Natura 2000 states that the sites proposed by member states must be based on scientific criteria and scientific evidence. We have not seen satisfactory scientific evidence from Dúchas. The extent of the SPAs is frightening, with more than 500,000 acres involved. If Dúchas wishes to designate this vast area for 100 or 130 breeding pairs, it must prove the scientific need for it.
Once the SPAs are published, they have legal status. When this happens, the burden of proof in terms of an area being an SPA changes from Dúchas to the farmer proving it should not be an SPA. This is ridiculous considering that, in the first instance, Dúchas has not proven that the area should be an SPA. If we take it a step further and go into the directive, once the areas are designated, Dúchas has a legal obligation under Natura 2000 to identify what are called "potentially damaging plans", which could be forestry, wind farming, cutting or spraying rushes and so on. Once identified, Dúchas will require these plans to be assessed. These plans can only be allowed if they represent an overriding interest or if no other alternative exists. Translated, we believe this means that forestry, wind farming, rural one-off houses and traditional farming practices, such as cutting and spraying rushes and land reclamation, will be disallowed in the SPA. Dúchas may request an EIA for any of these activities and may turn it down unless the farmer can prove his plan has an overriding national interest.
Farmers should not have to prove that their land should not be an SPA. It is up to Dúchas to provide that lands should be so designated. In the absence of such proof, Dúchas is not legally entitled to designate land as an SPA. It is very worrying that Dúchas intends to publish these SPAs within a month and not later than June, according to an individual from Dúchas last week. Once this is done, the SPAs will have legal protection and if Dúchas views forestry, wind farming, sowing fields or cutting or spraying rushes as potentially damaging, it will then be legally entitled to advise the regulatory bodies not to grant approval in the case of forestry and wind farming and to pivot other activities by way of notifiable actions.
Margot Wallstrom, Commissioner for the Environment, said that management of these SPAs is essential for their conservation, but to be successful it first requires the active involvement of the people who live in and depend upon these areas. Dúchas would do well to heed the advice of the commissioner.
Consultation is one of the significant issues and Dúchas has simply refused to engage in genuine consultation with the people and the communities in the areas it intends to devastate with this designation. Dúchas is so arrogant that it refuses to engage in consultation. It has even refused to tell landowners what will or will not be allowed within the SPAs. Dúchas says it has not decided yet. Is this consultation?
As the joint committee may be aware, I posed 67 questions to Dúchas on 24 February. To date I have not received one answer. Is that consultation? Dúchas intends to inform landowners that it is considering designating their land as SPAs by publishing the townland in the local newspaper, at which time their land is then a proposed SPA with all the restrictions, rules and regulations that accompany formal legal designation. Is this consultation?
I met Dúchas last Friday and asked if it would sit down and talk with us. I asked that it delay publishing the maps of the area. Dúchas said it could not because if it did not have maps, it would not have anything to talk about. I then proposed that it publish indicative maps which would not have legal status. It refused, saying that was how it did the NHAs and SACs. Is that consultation? The effects of designation if Dúchas is allowed do so, will be as follows: the option to diversify into farming or forestry and wind farming will be disallowed; traditional and essential farming practices such as cutting and spraying rushes, ploughing, etc., will be disallowed; options to sell and develop rural sites will be disallowed; and farmers and landowners will live at the whim of Dúchas officials.
The only definite and indisputable effect of Dúchas's current plan is that there will be a huge cost in trying to protect the hen harrier. We are a civilised and democratic society and it is unfair and unjust to suggest that one sector should carry the entire cost of protecting the harrier. This is what is at the core of the issue and this is the reason people in the proposed SPAs are so upset and angered. If Irish people wish to protect the hen harrier, they must be prepared to pay the cost of protecting it.
Dúchas does not intend to compensate farmers for the loss of income or the loss of the value of their land. This is totally unacceptable, unfair and unjust. Conservative estimates indicate that the loss of land value would be of the order of €750 million, with somewhere between €25 million and €50 million of an annual loss due to restrictions in farming practice. At one stage, Dúchas suggested there were fines of €20,000 per day. We could pay those fines for 100 years and it would be still less expensive than the cost which Dúchas is seeking to impose on farmers.
It said that we must accept our land being devalued by 75%, our incomes being reduced and not seek to be compensated. This is preposterous and unacceptable. Farming in this area is a tough business and people are struggling to survive. The recent IFA incomes study is relevant and shows the average farming income is €15,000, the average industrial income is €26,000 and the average civil service income is €37,000. The only consolation for farmers is that their land is worth money, but Dúchas now wishes to take this from us. It basically wants to take away our means of making a living. We will not and cannot allow this to happen. This is a tyrannical organisation that seems intent on turning rural Ireland into a desolate wilderness bereft of people. It is an organisation whose actions, if left unchecked, run the risk of ruining communities and impoverishing the people who live there.
We believe that the rural Deputies whom we elected to represent us will see the blatant injustice of this, will reassert control over Dúchas and order it not to publish the maps so that proper consultation can take place. It will take a strong public statement from this committee - statements from Dúchas are of no value - to prevent this from escalating with dire consequences. We and the members know the ordinary, hardworking, decent people who elected them. There is a limit to people's patience. Great credit is due to these people for the restraint they have shown, but their patience is running out. People believe that Dúchas will bring in this regulation without consultation and they are grossly aware of the consequences.
A public meeting has been planned for next week and we must return and tell the people who will attend it the views of the environment committee on our situation and on Dúchas's situation. The news must be good for us to bring back to that meeting.
Dúchas may think that farmers in these areas are fools, but we do not think so. The sense of injustice is palpable. If this committee lets Dúchas proceed with publishing these areas without consultation and compensation, what do members think will happen? What choice will people feel they have left?