GAEC 2 will not have negative impacts on farmers - minister
Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has said that the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC 2) proposals will not have negative impacts on farmers.
The minister was responding to a parliamentary question (PQ) about the rewetting of peat-type soils from Kerry TD, Danny Healy-Rae.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) held a protest on Tuesday (March, 6) outside the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) headquarters in Dublin about the proposals to include mineral soils under Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC) 2.
Deputy Healy-Rae said: "Their concerns are about proposals to rewet peat-type soils and to stop people draining peat-type soils that have not been drained yet or have had only a little drainage,
"This will greatly and adversely impact on farmers' ability to farm, especially on marginal farms in places like south Kerry, west Kerry and all along the western seaboard.
"One of their asks is that mineral-type soils not be included and they say there should not be a compulsory order. The group is saying that payment rules are going to be affected by these new GAEC 2 proposals.
"I am asking the ministers and the Taoiseach to consider this. It looks as though this proposal came from the Greens. I want it to be stopped."
Responding to the question, Minister Heydon said that he wanted to reassure the deputy that the GAEC 2 proposals would not have negative impacts for farmers.
The minister said: "We would have been in breach since 1 January 2025 if we did not do that this year and I am not willing, as Minister for Agriculture, to subject the state or our CAP funding to potential fines of €100 million per year.
"At the heart of the proposal we have put to the [European] Commission and on which we consulted all of the farming bodies, including the INHFA and many others - (I accept their points of concern but I disagree with them) - is an approach that will allow farmers in the GAEC 2 area who have more than 50% of peat in their soil to continue their normal agricultural activity, continue to plough, reseed and maintain drains and have new drainage in line with existing national planning legislation."
Deputy Healy-Rae further asked the minister if he intended to stop people cutting turf. Minister Heydon responded that it had nothing to do with that.
