Watch: Healy-Rae hoping effect of GAEC 2 will be 'minimal'
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Michael Healy-Rae said he hopes the impact of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition on the protection of peatlands and wetlands (GAEC 2) on farmers will be "minimal".
The minister made the comments during a farm walk organised by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) in Co. Kerry this week.
The farmers in attendance outlined their concerns to Minister Healy-Rae about how the new regulation will impact their ability to farm on peat soils.
GAEC 2 is a baseline requirement under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the protection of carbon-rich soils.
The regulation is in place for 2025 as part of the conditionality requirements for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) scheme.
The department's proposal on GAEC 2 is currently being considered by the European Commission.
DAFM will also be writing to all farmers that are affected by GAEC 2 in the coming weeks.
Minister Healy-Rae said that the regulation "had to be signed up to" this year by his colleague Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon.
"If the minister didn't do what he did, we would then have a situation that between maybe €70-90 million of fines would have been imposed on our farming community. The minister couldn't allow that to happen.
"Everybody worked diligently to get the derogations for the couple of years. There was no further derogations able to come to us. So this had to happen. We might not like it. We didn't want it, but we don't have a choice.
"What's going to happen now is the big issue. Farmers getting to know what the maps will mean to their farms is very very important to me. Knowing it as soon as they can, having all the information, that is very important," he said.
"So I would be hoping that, at the end of the day, that the effect of GAEC 2 will be minimal. That's what I'm hoping for," the minister added.
Alice Doyle, deputy president of the IFA, who also attended the farm walk, said that it was clear how concerned farmers are about GAEC 2.
"We understand only too well because we've known this for the last four years, the implications of GAEC 2 coming in and we have fought so hard to keep it out," she said.
Doyle said that the IFA is currently seeking to extend the implementation of the regulation for as long as possible "in the hopes that we will get it in under simplification".
She highlighted comments made by European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen at the IFA annual general meeting (AGM) in January.
"He clearly said that he was going to work very hard for farmers. He was going to do everything he could to make life easier and reduce regulation for farmers. This is serious regulation and we have to do our best to reduce it to the minimum," she said.
Kerry IFA chair Jason Fleming said that GAEC 2 will impact farmers "right down along the western seaboard".
"All we want to do as farmers is actively farm our land, and this is seriously affecting us doing that.
"Most farmers in this county have a bit of peaty soil, the regulation coming in on top of farmers is going to finish us from a productivity point of view," he said.
Fleming, who is planning to organise more events on GAEC 2, has called for more engagement with farmers on the regulation.
"There is no engagement with farmers. It's coming in now and when you go in to fill up your Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application, you're signing up to GAEC 2," he said.
"This is a form of designation what we're dealing with here in relation to GAEC 2. We have to fight for our living here and for the family farms on the ground and that's what we intend to do," Fleming added.
The farm event took place on the lands of William Murphy, a sheep and suckler farmer in Glencar.
The farmer, who was part of the Pearl Mussel Project which has now finished, outlined the difficulties he is currently having with securing permission to open drains on his lands.
Murphy showed pictures of his sheep that had previously had fallen into the drains and died.
"I have to go around every day and check my drains to make sure there's no sheep inside in [them], taking several hours to do it. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not, you can't save them all. If I can't open the drains this will continue," he said.
Minister Martin Heydon previously stated that the DAFM proposal in relation to GAEC 2 “does not prohibit any of the common practices” in relation to agricultural activity on peatlands and wetlands.
He said that grassland reseeding is still possible, as is maintenance and repair of existing drains.
“New drains are also allowed, subject to the relevant planning legislation, which is already a requirement,” he added.
