Closure of Reps to hit farmers

A DECISION by the Government to close an environmental farming scheme to new applicants will affect up to 34,000 farmers, Opposition parties have said.

Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith announced this week that the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (Reps) would be closed to new entrants and to those completing five-year contracts.

The scheme has 62,000 members and was worth €8,550 on average to farmers. It rewarded farmers for environmentally friendly farming and resulted in payments of €3 billion.

Labour agriculture spokesman Seán Sherlock said the decision to close the scheme would affect up to 34,000 farmers due to complete their environmental plans over the next four years.

“It is patently clear that the Greens in Government do not care about these environmental measures, which add significant value to the rural economy and are based on positive environmental measures.”

He also criticised cuts in the forestry scheme, announced earlier this year. He said the Greens had “disassociated themselves” from agriculture, but needed to realise that schemes such as Reps and the forestry scheme were vital to environmental management.

Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Michael Creed said the Government had set its face against recognising the economic contribution of the agri-food sector and realising its potential.

“A grim picture has been painted. . . of how lower prices and rising costs are putting a squeeze on farmers’ incomes,” he said. “Now the Minister for Agriculture has turned sneak thief and is set to pick their pockets too.”

Environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment said Reps had established farming practices that reflected the increasing concern for conservation, landscape protection and wider environmental problems.

Director of the group Tony Lowes said the end of the scheme would inevitably lead to an erosion of good environmental practice in rural Ireland.

Mr Smith said the scheme was being closed in view of the current budgetary situation.

“This decision is necessary in order to keep Reps within its budgetary allocation over the coming years,” he said.

He also proposed to introduce a new targeted agri-environment measure to be funded by the European Economic Recovery Programme. A decision on the maximum payment to each farmer under the scheme would be taken later in the year, he said.

A spokesman for the Green Party said the Opposition had offered no alternative to cuts in forestry premiums.

“We regret these cuts, which we have worked with our Government partners to minimise,” he said.

He also said, regarding the Reps cuts, that the need to find co- funding for EU agri-environmental measures required difficult decisions now, which would benefit farm families and the Irish environment in the future.