Taoiseach ‘propagated fears’ farmers forced to rewet land due to nature restoration law – Cairns

The “kind of dangerous distortions” about nature restoration law coming from some, in both the Government and Sinn Féin, are “very worrying”, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said.

Ms Cairns said the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has “propagated fears” that farmers will be forced to rewet their land as part of the law “despite the fact that he knows, or at least should know, this is not true”.

The Social Democrats leader was speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Thursday, as the nature restoration law in the European Parliament survived an attempt to kill it with the narrowest possible vote.

The proposed legislation would oblige European Union countries to come up with national plans to restore ecosystems and habitats, returning protected areas to a good condition, with the aim of putting in place nature-restoration measures across at least 20 per cent of the EU’s overall land and sea areas by 2030.

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[ Nature-restoration law narrowly survives in European Parliament ]

Ms Cairns said if the ultimate law was “undermined”, there would be “plenty of blame to go around” and that Fine Gael had been “among the chief critics of the proposed law”.

“Instead of supporting the measures the Taoiseach has slated them,” she said. “He has propagated fears that farmers will be forced to rewet their land as part of the law. He has done this, despite the fact that he knows, or at least should know, this is not true.

“The Taoiseach isn’t alone in cynically politicking on this. Sinn Féin MEP Chris McManus also joined in and voted against one of the most important pieces of EU legislation in its history at the agriculture committee.

“Like the Taoiseach, he chose to pit farmers against nature, said there’s too much ambiguity about the impact the law would have on farmers.”

The Cork South-West TD said if there was any ambiguity most of it has been caused by MEPs like Mr McManus or Mr Varadkar, “who chose to ramp up fears rather than alleviate them”.

Ms Cairns also accused Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher of being engaged in such behaviour.

“He has been at the forefront in Irish media in recent weeks, arguing the law threatens the livelihoods of farmers,” she said.

“Mr Kelleher has made these claims in the absence of any evidence. In fact, the nature restoration law aims to provide new funding streams for farmers to ensure the viability of farms long into the future.”

In response, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said anything farmers would be asked to do will be voluntary and they will be supported financially. Mr O’Brien said there had been “scaremongering” in relation to rewetting and that Ireland would be relying on State lands, such as Coilte and Bord na Móna lands, to “shoulder the majority of the rewetting required”.

The Fianna Fáil TD said the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue had outlined the “significant flexibility” under the proposals and that Irish agriculture production was “not expected to be significantly or adversity affected and State lands will contribute almost all of the initial commitment in this phase”.

“This is a very important stage and time for the European Union as a whole to act together positively in relation to nature restoration,” he said.

Mr O’Brien added that the Government supported the nature restoration law while the “European Parliament is separate to this parliament”.