Connemara farms face into a bleak few years

HOLD-UPS in Commonage Management Plans for Connemara farmers are just the latest in a long line of disincentives that will drive young people off the land in the region, it was warned this week.

Connemara IFA Regional Chairman, Eamonn Nee, told the Farming Tribune that SAC restrictions, the lack of a proper compensation package and a watered down REPS scheme [GLAS], made the prospects very unattractive for farmers in the region.

“We will have a Connemara that will be lovely for tourists and visitors – and while there is nothing wrong with that – that native people of the region are being forgotten about.

“Land usage is massively restricted due to SACs [special areas of conservation]; there is no compensation scheme in place; the GLAS scheme is completely inadequate and local people cannot build a house out here,” said Eamonn Nee.

He warned that unless measures were put in place ‘and quickly’ there would simply be no young people staying around in the Connemara region to look after the land and the environment.

“The old REPS scheme was actually quite a good one but what we got instead in GLAS does not even make it worthwhile for farmers to go into. In some cases, it would end up costing them money.

“What is happening also is that the local farmers are at the very end of the queue when it comes to payments. Everyone else along the line, including planners, get looked after first – the farmer is the last one to get anything out of these schemes,” said Eamonn Nee.

This week, IFA Hill Committee Chairman, Pat Dunne, urged the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed to ‘open up’ the process for planners to submit Commonage Management Plans.

“IFA will not accept any delays in payments to the 7,000 commonage farmers who have applied for GLAS and whose Commonage Management Plan must be submitted by the end of October. Currently, planners are assessing commonages but do not have the facility to make the online application for the plan,” said Pat Dunne.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.