Eamon Ryan at odds with Leo Varadkar over proposed EU rewetting scheme

Mr Varadkar said in the Dáil earlier this week that so-called 'rewetting' of land on a large scale would be going too far

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has blasted 'scaremongering' around the EU’s proposed Nature Restoration Law.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has blasted “scaremongering” around the EU’s proposed Nature Restoration Law, contradicting the position of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who has said parts of the proposal “go too far”.

In the latest sign of the ramping-up of tensions between the government parties, Mr Ryan told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual climate change conference that he "absolutely, fundamentally disagrees" with those claiming the law would harm family farming.

Mr Ryan's comments are a direct rebuke to Mr Varadkar's assertion in the Dáil earlier this week that so-called "rewetting" of land on a large scale would be going too far.

The European Commission's proposal to restore ecosystems would be the first continent-wide law of its kind and calls "for binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters".

Elements include 35% of land previously that has previously been drained for agriculture being rewetted by 2050. 

Rewetting ostensibly means bringing back a natural water flow and saturating peatland in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other benefits such as reducing wildfire risks and enhancing biodiversity.

The plan has received stiff pushback from some Irish MEPs, who claim it would disproportionately affect Irish agriculture, while environmental campaigners and scientists say it is vital in the current climate and biodiversity crises.

Mr Varadkar said: "I want to make it very clear that it is a proposal at this stage. We all understand the need to protect nature, restore biodiversity loss and allow nature to regrow.

"But there are aspects of it that go too far, particularly if it comes to taking agricultural land out of use for food production."

Addressing the EPA conference, Mr Ryan said: "For those arguing — scaremongering, I'd have to call it — in recent times that Nature Restoration Law from Europe is going to destroy a family farming system, I'd absolutely, fundamentally disagree. 

"Are we going to vote for nature destruction law? Is that going to be the future? It doesn't make any sense," he said.

Bord na Móna has already started it, he said. Farmers can be the "climate heroes" in storing carbon in how they farm in relation to nature restoration, he added.

"We know we can do it... Let's not get distracted, let's not get divided over a law in Brussels... that we do need, " he said.

People should not be "fearful" of the law because it is not the threat to Ireland's farming future that some people have suggested, Mr Ryan said.

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