Sir, – Don Mullins (September 30th) states that an "obscene amount of money was paid to a few farmers to conserve a few birds". Mr Mullins was referring to a report that 377 farmers have received €11 million over a five-year period as part of the hen harrier farm scheme.
The monies referred to above are part of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds. One of the EU conditions attached to these farm payments is that biodiversity is maintained. In the case of the hen harrier, these payments were made to farmers whose lands were designated under an EU Directive as Special Protection Areas. The lands are generally marginal and without these special payments the natural habitat and hence its biodiversity would be replaced by the monoculture of Sitka spruce.
The reason the EU insists such funds be allocated to biodiversity is because it is an essential component in the provision of the oxygen, water and the food that we require for our very existence. Birds such as the hen harrier are at the top of the food chain and are therefore a good indicator of the state of the biodiversity of the landscape. When indicator species such as the hen harrier start disappearing, as is currently the case, it is an early warning sign that problems more fundamental than those concerned with health and education services are on the horizon. The EU recognises this. Likewise the UN General Assembly also recognised the critical importance of biodiversity and has declared 2011-2020 the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
CONRAD McGEOUGH,
Red Island,
Skerries, Co Dublin.