Sir, - The best antidote to current anxieties in farming circles about the effects of proposed environmental land designations on normal farming activities, would be a factually based public information programme by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, on the precise details of NHA (Natural Heritage Area) and SAC (Special Area of Conservation) designations.
This is essential to gain the confidence of farmers and to allay any unwarranted fears that these environmental designations will involve anything more demanding than to retain traditional farming systems in key areas of nature conservation value, where the agricultural potential is often very low anyhow.
While it is clearly important for Government and landowners to resolve any legal and financial matters arising in this particular context, the NHAISAC issue is really just one aspect of a much broader picture. The fundamental problem is the conflict between EU agricultural schemes and environmental conservation programmes. The Irish Government, together with national farming and environmental groups, should be using their combined strength and influence in Brussels to have EU farm income support payments linked directly to the vital role of farmers in sustainable countryside management.
The Teagasc 1995 National Farm Survey showed that EU direct payments represented 48 per cent of the average farm income in that year, or 85 per cent of income in the case of cattle rearing farms and an extraordinary figure of 105 per cent of sheep farmers income. This is a compelling reason for moving rapidly to put these support payments on a more secure footing in terms of public acceptance and credibility, in a situation where Irish and EU taxpayers have been showing increasing signs of disenchantment with the present production driven livestock headage payments and ewe premium structure.
The idea of a possible shift from livestock headage to area based payments (as already applicable to arable farming) deserves serious consideration as a means of reconciling economic, social and environmental objectives, in terms of maintaining a viable agriculture in rural communities as well as conserving Ireland's special natural heritage resources. It would be regrettable if the remaining weeks of our EU Presidency were to slip by without any concrete Irish initiative in this area.
-Yours, etc.
Countryside Officer, Bird Watch Ireland,
Ruttledge House,
8 Longford Place,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.