EU premiums for sheep and cattle are increasing pressure on many important conservation areas, four leading environmental organisations have claimed.
In a joint submission to the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, and the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, Bird Watch Ireland, An Taisce, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and the Irish Wildlife Trust call for a shift from production-orientated livestock headage payments.
"The latest Teagasc national farm survey report shows that EU direct support payments amounted to 48 per cent of average Irish farm income in 1995. Such payments represent 85 per cent of income on cattle-rearing farms and the entire net income of sheep farmers came from EU payments," says the submission.
"Farm income supports based on regarding the substantial environmental, economic and social benefits of countryside management and conservation would offer a much better and longer-term prospect of continued acceptance by Irish and EU taxpayers.
"Sheep headage payments have pushed the national flock from four million head in the early 1980s to 8.4 million head in 1995, with serious impact on ecologically sensitive areas."