Beware the long road ahead
It’s also a warning to farmers that the biggest event in their lives could be the routing of a highway through their area.
The NRA, in conjunction with local authorities, is undertaking the most extensive roads programme in the history of the State. On January 1, 458km of new roads were under construction, and the Authority expects to start work on a further 169km this year.
Because this programme coincides with 10 years of Ireland’s most sustained boom in land values, huge sums of money are at stake.
Each year, many farmers are confronted by the compulsory purchase order (CPO) process for the first time.
From now to 2010, the NRA has deadlines to complete the major inter-urban routes from Dublin to Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Galway, and the M1, and to press ahead with the Atlantic corridor from Letterkenny along the west coast through Sligo and Galway and down to Limerick, Cork and Waterford.
The NRA says it will issue CPOs for the Macroom and Ballyvourney bypasses in Co Cork before the summer.
Against this background, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food deserves credit for its recent discussion with NRA officials on delays in the payment of compensation to farmers for land acquired for road building.
During the debate, the implications for farmers were made clear — principally the pain and disturbance caused when land that has been farmed for centuries is suddenly erased. Small farms can be split in two, farm water supplies may be severed, busy local roads closed — and all the time, farmers or their valuers can be in protracted negotiations with consultants employed by the NRA who, according to one Committee member, can be callous and cold in their dealings.
If that wasn’t enough, many farmers believe that epidemics of bovine TB are occurring on farms where new roads are being built, which they blame on disturbance of wildlife.
This year again, about €370 million is likely to be paid out to farmers for lands compulsorily purchased by the NRA.
However, the amount per acre, and the delay in payment, can vary enormously.
A difference of €50,000 paid per acre to farmers in Co Kilkenny only eight miles apart was revealed in the Committee debate.
The vast majority of farmers, about 95%, have accepted compensation after negotiation with valuers employed by county councils, without going to arbitration or assessment.
But according to the NRA, many cases of payment to landowners are held up because of defects in title — such as disposal of sites to family members without proper access or rights of way definition, location of septic tanks on land adjoining the land being acquired, or problems with probate, wills and unpaid taxes. Such defects may delay payment of compensation to landowners for months, so those likely at any stage to face land purchase for roads should have their affairs well in order.
The first they are likely to hear of a scheme affecting their farms would be an announcement of public consultation.
When it comes to compulsory purchase, the NRA’s approach is to track land values through local auctions and other land sales, and use them as the basis for valuing land they want for roads. This information is shared with landowners and their valuers, who can propose other arguments for land valuation. Compensation may also reflect the impact of severance, disturbance or injurious affection.
The NRA, through the local authorities and the valuers they use, will offer what they believe to be a fair price on a take it or leave it basis.
Interim payments may be made to landowners, often where the family home is involved. Or the landowner may be compensated and still allowed remain in the family home until he or she has made alternative arrangements. Interest payments for purchase of alternative land may be compensated for. In certain cases, land severed from one farm would be part of the compensation package for an adjoining landowner.
In 2001, the NRA, Department of the Environment and Local Government and the IFA agreed to improve and streamline land acquisition and compensation. The agreement included a goodwill payment to co-operative landowners of €5,000 per acre.
Public representatives allege this is being used by local authorities to force farmers to agree within a certain time or lose the €5,000. However, the NRA says it does not link payment of goodwill moneys to acceptance within a particular timeframe.
The NRA also has ongoing discussions with the ICMSA.
But at the end of the day, each landowner is responsible for his or her own dealings with the NRA — and it is likely to be the most important deal they do in their lifetime.
