Solution sought for 169,000 hectares of hen harrier land

A practical and common sense solution to farmers’ financial loss due to lands being designated as special protection areas is being sought by TDs and senators on the Oireachtas joint committee for agriculture, food and the marine.

They will make a submission to the ministers for heritage and agriculture following meetings since last December in which the committee heard how designation of land under EU directives has dramatically devalued the land of about 4,000 farmers.

Committee chairman Andrew Doyle TD said: “The committee is acutely aware of the difficulties that many farmers have endured in light of the designation of 169,000 hectares of land to protect the hen harrier.