Farmers rue €980m lost over bird rules

Farmers have warned that a ban on forestry in hen harrier-protected areas in nine counties has devalued their land by €980m and is turning parts of rural Ireland into a wilderness.

They claim that the ban and restrictions on farming practices are causing mental stress and depression among many farmers and landowners affected by the designation.

A female hen harrier was shot dead on Co Kerry farmlands last week.

A total of 169,000 hectares, representing 6% of the country’s land area, and mainly owned by 4,400 farmers, is covered by the designation for the hen harrier, a bird of prey protected by European and Irish law.

Hundred of farmers and landowners, who repeatedly stressed that the issue is not the hen harrier but the designation of land, have attended meetings in recent months and have outlined their grievances.

Irish Farmers with Designated Land, a group formed last August, has also met European Commission officials in Brussels, discussed the issues with government ministers and politicians and addressed a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The group’s chairman, Jason Fitzgerald, said farmers have expressed their concerns at the realisation that their land values have been decimated.

“We have very solid examples of the financial stress that this designation has put on farmers within these regions,” he said.

“Prospective buyers have indicated that it was too risky to purchase lands designated for hen harrier protection. Some farmers, wanting to sell their lands, could not get a bid.

“The main reasons for the devaluation include the suspension of the hen harrier farm-plan scheme, which means that farmers who own land affected by the designation were not compensated. This will result in farmers abandoning some of these lands and moving from these communities.”

A decline in hill farming, coupled with an increase in forestry, has been linked to a decline in hen harriers in recent years.

A survey of breeding hen harriers reported that 128 to 172 pairs were recorded in 2010. However, notable declines were recorded in some traditional strongholds and within a number of the Special Protection Areas as designated under the EU Birds Directive.

Anyone found guilty of shooting a hen harrier can face fines of up to €100,000 or up to two years in prison.