THE Heritage Council has called for an incentive for farmers who do not have the option of taking part in the existing EU Rural Environment Protection Scheme, which is designed to assist them to operate in an environmentally sensitive way.
The call was made by Mr Michael D. Starrett, the chief executive of the council, which yesterday launched policy papers on State expenditure on agriculture and the national heritage, and forestry and the national heritage.
The council said the countryside was in danger of being overwhelmed by the massive increase in planned afforestation and called for heritage concerns to be integrated at the strategic planning level of national forestry policy. It also warned against heritage-related expenditure from EU operational programmes being channelled into tourism projects of little heritage value. On agriculture, the policy pa per said the REPS scheme was not an option for two-thirds of farmers and, with less than 10 per cent of the countryside officially designated as having formal heritage value, this left much unprotected by directives or agri-environmental incentives.
The ewe premium scheme was singled out as contributing to over-grazing by sheep in the west. Having an amended REPS scheme would provide compensation for destocking in degraded areas.
On forestry, the scheme had the potential both to safeguard and enhance the heritage, it said, but this should only be done in a manner which sensitively integrated forestry programmes into the landscape, rather than where it overwhelmed the landscape.
"The strategic plan envisages 1 per cent of the total land area being afforested every three years. This cannot but have a large impact on the character of the countryside and will place forestry as the second-most important land use," said Mr Starrett. The council was seeking a 1:1 ratio for broadleaf trees and conifers.
On State spending on heritage, Mr Starrett said the policy paper was concerned with the allocation and targeting of EU heritage funding. The paper called for the introduction of "heritage quality control" for all projects containing a heritage component, to be carried out by a single agency.
It was also recommended that the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands complete the national heritage plan, which should have a vital role in the allocation of EU and national funds. It also recommended an increase in Exchequer and lottery funding for heritage infrastructure.