THE Minister for Arts and Culture, Mr Higgins, has come under strong pressure from farmers over the designation of Natural Heritage Areas to protect bogs, fens and other habitats which are important to Ireland's wildlife. And this pressure seems to be paying off, according to conservationists.
Farmers see NHAs and other nature protection measures as an interference with their rights to do what they like with their land. A spokesman for one of the farming organisations accused Mr Higgins of seeking to "nationalise" the land and even spoke of Cromwell and blood running down the hillsides.
Proposed NHAs cover about 7 per cent of the land area, two thirds of which will also be EU inspired Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). Farmers are concerned that these designations would "freeze" development and have threatened to make this a political issue in the forthcoming general election.
Because of political sensitivities, particularly in the west, Mr Higgins has been trying to reach an accommodation with the farming lobby rather than leave himself open to the charge of imposing unwelcome regulations. Indeed, two days of the recent national pay deal talks were devoted to this thorny issue.
Although a form of words was agreed, negotiations are to resume this month on the details of what level of compensation might be on offer to farmers whose land is covered by an NHA or SAC. As a result, the deadline for designation has been extended to "the end of February" - but even this may be flexible.
"With a general election later this year, it would be a miracle if it all goes through", said Dr Peter Foss, chairman of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. The IPCC, An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland and the Irish Wildlife Trust are the main conservation groups lobbying for progress.
Mr Higgins, who has responsibility for wildlife, is also said to be anxious to make progress, but he wants to give adequate time for consultation to avoid any charge that he is "railroading" the issue. The Minister has to try to strike a balance between protecting the land and maintaining farmers living standards.
In the meantime, conservationists complain that prospective protected areas are being destroyed, particularly by overgrazing sheep.
"At least 250,000 acres have been damaged in a relatively short period. In Connemara and Mayo you would imagine that a herd of elephants have denuded the hill sides", said one conservationist.
Overgrazing has been directly encouraged by the availability of EU funded headage payments, which are geared to support farmers on marginal land.
In 1996, it is estimated that 27,000 sheep farmers received more than £20 million in headage payments, while a further £96 million was paid out to 76,000 cattle farmers.
At the same time, the Commission co finances the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS), which is aimed at encouraging more sustainable agriculture. It is estimated that payments totalling almost £80 million were approved under the REPS in 1996, involving more than 21,000 farmers.
It is to comply with the EU Habitats Directive that the proposed SACs must be designated to protect wildlife areas which are regarded as being of European significance. The directive was to be "transposed" into Irish law by June 1994 and qualifying sites were to be selected a year later. These deadlines have not been met
Shortly before Christmas, draft regulations to implement the Habitats Directive were shown to conservation groups at a meeting in Mr Higgins's Department. "It was the first time any of us had seen them, but we were told that they couldn't be changed", Dr Foss complained.
Subsequently, the four main groups wrote to the Minister, urging him to change the regulations to provide for third party involvement - for example, in seeking an injunction to halt damage to an SAC. They also stressed that farmers fears could be allayed by a positive public information campaign.
