Aughty farmers vow to fight for Harrier ‘compo’

FARMERS in the Slieve Aughty area of South Galway and East Clare are planning to step up their campaign for the restoration of the Hen Harrier compensation scheme in some shape or form.

Several hundred farmers – many of them in the South Galway area in a loop from Woodford to Gort – claim that their lands have been massively devalued by the Hen Harrier designation.

Expanding scrub areas – farmers aren’t allowed to cut it back – has led to a reduction in Basic Payments for farmers on privately owned or rented land while they also claim that a commitment given to them on  GLAS has been reneged upon.

The Hen Harrier designation – affecting over 59,000 hectares (nearly 150,000 acres) – in the Slieve Aughty area, came into place in 2008, along with a compensation scheme that only lasted for two years due to ‘funding reasons’.

Local Woodford farmer and IFA activist, PJ Conroy, told the Farming Tribune that the Hen Harrier designation had resulted in massive restrictions for the affected farmers.

“There are major restrictions as regards planning, spraying, forestry, the securing of loans on the land, and the containment of scrub growth because of the designation.

“Farmers in the Hen Harrier areas have been dealt a huge financial blow and no compensation package has been put in place since 2010,” said PJ Conroy. He added that farmers were being caught in a real ‘Catch 22’ situation as regards land eligibility for the Basic Payments Scheme.

“As the scrub continues to take over more land, the eligible area is also reducing, and farmers aren’t entitled to do anything about it.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.