Senator Malcolm Noonan has called for the government's plan on implementing the Nature Restoration Law to be "inclusive" and to ensure financial rewards for farmers.

The nature restoration measures should cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

The government is now tasked with forming a way to implement the new law, with the plan to be submitted to the EU Commission by September 2026.

Senator Noonan said that the law was delayed, as it "got caught in the politics of Europe", and said that there was a "wider agenda" at the time around securing the green deal.

"Myself and Minister Eamonn Ryan at the time felt that the law was the only game in town if we were to restore nature at scale across Europe," Senator Noonan said.

The regulation, which combines an overarching restoration objective for the long-term recovery of nature in the EU’s land and sea areas, has caused much concern for farmers in Ireland about rewetting land.

Senator Noonan spoke about the law at the European Climate Pact National Conference in collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Ireland.

He said that farmers "need certainty" and "assurance of consistent payments" in the government's new plan.

"The plan that Ireland embarks on has to be collaborative, and anything that farmers are involved in should be completely on a voluntary basis," the senator said.

"Farmers should want to be involved and not made do anything. They need to get paid for what they do, it shouldn't just be a temporary payment," he added.

"The vast majority of land in Ireland is privately owned, it's being actively farmed, and we have to do this in a way that farmers feel supported and they feel that they're getting a financial reward," Senator Noonan said.