Passing of Nature Restoration Law No Surprise

IFA President Francie Gorman said that the passing of the Nature Restoration Law by the EU Council of Environment Ministers this morning was no great surprise.

“It was always likely that the law pass once the EU elections were over. Farmers will see the post-trilogue stalling of this law by Member States as a piece of pre-election political theatre,” he said.

“The approach by the Commission to bring in a law in this area rather than a properly- funded, EU-wide, voluntary scheme is totally wrong. The reality is that there is a huge amount of uncertainty about how this law is going to be interpreted at Member State level,” he said.

“No national impact assessment has been carried out and we have no idea how it will impact on food production, and ultimately on food security,” he said.

“The Irish Government was wrong to support the introduction of this law without the completion of an impact assessment and a dedicated budget to support its implementation,” he said.

“A huge amount of work is now needed on how this law will be implemented in Ireland. I want to make it clear that IFA will not stand for farmers’ property rights or their right to farm their land being undermined,” he said.