Latest news with #IrishNaturaandHillFarmers'Association
RTÉ News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Farmers call for changes to protect livestock from dog attacks
Farming organisations have called for measures including DNA testing, disqualification from dog ownership, and a ban on non-working dogs on hills and farmland to help protect livestock from dog attacks. Addressing the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, Vice President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) John Joe Fitzgerald said the level of dog attacks on livestock has reached "crisis point". Mr Fitzgerald said INHFA members have reported "increasing levels of concern and complaints from farmers with regard to recreational walkers bringing their dogs onto farmlands [including our hills] and when asked to remove them, they become highly abusive and threatening, which in some instances has led to physical violence". He said a Government-funded national database should be established to collate "all information on dogs, including dog licence, microchipping and DNA samples from each dog". 'Roaming patrols' The INHFA also wants to see "roaming patrols" to monitor any loose dogs on hills or near farmland. Also addressing the committee, Sheep Chair of the Irish Farmers' Association Adrian Gallagher said dog owners who fail to keep their pets under control should be disqualified from dog ownership. He said the option exists for the courts to disbar ownership of protected animals if there is a failure to comply with welfare obligations in the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. "Given the devastation caused by an increasing number of dog attacks on sheep in particular, zero tolerance has to be the policy. The Animal Health and Welfare Act sanctions should be extended to irresponsible dog owners who allow their pets cause this devastation on farms." Mr Gallagher said the decision to have the Department of Agriculture as the single enforcement authority "is a move in the right direction, but we should have seen this happen long before now". According to the IFA, in 2023 reporting of livestock-worrying incidents rose to 276, a 3% increase on 2022, adding that "many more go unreported". Enforcement 'severely limited' The organisation said enforcement remains "severely limited", with only 80 wardens on the ground throughout the country. Meanwhile, Sheep Chair of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) Willie Shaw told the Agriculture Committee "we've plenty of sheep farmers leaving the industry. We don't need to give them another reason to leave". Mr Shaw also pointed out that just "ten percent of dog attacks on livestock are kills" with sheep worrying a huge issue. He said "DNA testing wouldn't help with this". An example of such a case was mentioned by the INHFA, which said a couple of years ago "a hundred ewes and lambs in Kerry were driven off the edge of a cliff by a dog". Attacks 'detrimental' to livestock welfare Chairperson of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association's (ICMSA) Livestock Committee Michael O'Connell said the effect dog attacks and sheep worrying have on flocks and herds "is very detrimental to the health and welfare of these livestock". "We have seen firsthand from members of the immediate damages in terms of dead and injured sheep, but the long-term effects are equally devastating. "These include physical injuries such as severe bites and lacerations, which may result in death or future physical trauma as well as disabilities to mobility." The ICSMA recommended a 'Dog Control Awareness' programme be launched similar to that originally launched in 2024. Mr O'Connell said dogs "have the potential to cause death, serious injury, serious stress and anxiety to livestock, which the dog may deem to be playing. "Dogs are not responsible for their actions; it is their owners' responsibility to keep them under control. "If the awareness is aimed towards the owners, with emphasis on the damage dogs can do to sheep flocks or cattle herds, it may not be long before there is an improvement to what is a growing problem."
Agriland
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Agriland
State criticised for purchasing land for rewilding amid housing crisis
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been slammed for purchasing land for rewilding during the housing crisis. The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has called into question what it said is the 'expressed policy of government ministers and our Taoiseach [Micheál Martin] to use state money in the purchasing of lands to increase the size and number of national parks'. Vincent Roddy, the association's president, said: 'It is absolutely mind-boggling that we have people inside the Department of Housing actively looking to purchase farmland for rewilding while over 15,000 people remain homeless, including 4,600 children. 'With numbers such as this you would expect the government and this department to focus on acquiring land to build houses or maybe developing existing state land for housing,' Roddy added. He went on to outline what he said was the impact of those land purchases for farmers and their communities. 'We are now seeing the state actively compete against farmers in the purchasing of land, which is having a detrimental effect on access to land, especially for young farmers, while also undermining economic activity in these communities,' Roddy said. The INHFA president also claimed that this policy is 'at variance' with the Irish constitution, which Roddy said 'outlines the need to retain as many families as is economically practicable on the land'. The wording of the constitution in this regard is: 'The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that there may be established on the land in economic security as many families as in the circumstances shall be practicable.' Roddy called for 'an immediate reassessment' of the current policy, amid 'growing concerns around food security and ongoing rural decline'. 'Through active engagement with farmers we can deliver much better outcomes in terms of economic and environmental sustainability while ensuring there is more funding available to address the housing crisis,' he said.
Agriland
04-06-2025
- Business
- Agriland
ACRES payments ‘could be too little, too late' for future schemes
The issuing of delayed balancing payments for 2023 and 2024 under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) 'could be too little, too late' for future agri-environment schemes, one farm organisation has warned. As the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine works towards getting ACRES payments out to farmers, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has said that the hold-up to these payments has caused 'irreparable damage' to both ACRES and similar schemes that might exist in future. Pheilim Molloy, the national chairperson of the INHFA, said that while recent progress made in getting balancing payment out is positive, it has nonetheless left many farmers in an 'unacceptable' position. He said: 'As we move into June and past the half point of ACRES programme we need to recognise that there are over 1,000 farmers that applied to join ACRES in November 2022 still awaiting their balancing payments. 'For these farmers and many more that have only been paid in recent weeks, the wait for their payment in addition to clarity on their overall payment is unacceptable.' 'Beyond these 1,000 farmers there are over 5,400 farmers still awaiting their first payment for 2024 which [amounts] to 10% of the 54,082 participants in the ACRES programme,' he added. According to Molloy, this has left these farmers 'in a vulnerable financial position, due to uncertainty around payment dates and the balance of their overall payment'. 'This will leave farmers reluctant to join future schemes, especially where there isn't a clear indication of what payment farmers can expect to get, as well as definite timelines around these payment dates,' the INHFA national chair added. The INHFA representative also cited concerns around habitat scoring for commonage farmers in the Co-operation Project (CP) areas. For these farmers, landscape actions (LAs) were included to assist farmers on improving their habitat score, but as of yet none of these actions have been made available. 'This is another example of farmers losing out due to the failures of the department, which has indicated that these actions will not be available until the second or third quarter of this year,' Molloy said. 'Based on ACRES deadlines it is reasonable to now assume that these LAs won't be available until at least September which will be too late to positively influence the habitat scoring that has already started on these commonages,' he added. 'For these farmers and indeed all other farmers in ACRES, the inability by the department to deliver on payment dates and the actions to support farmers will be the defining element of the scheme, as well as being a major factor in their decision to partake…in any future agri-environment scheme,' Molloy said.
Agriland
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Agriland
Farm org claims assurance on nature restoration is ‘misinformation'
A farm organisation has claimed that the assurance that there is sufficient state owned-land to meet Ireland's obligations under the Nature Restoration Law is 'misinformation'. The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has called on Minister of State for nature, Christopher O'Sullivan, to 'clarify the ongoing misinformation relating to the suggestion that the state has the necessary land to deliver on our obligations under the Nature Restoration Law'. According to INHFA president Vincent Roddy, some public representatives 'continue to push the narrative that the state can deliver the necessary land to meet all our obligations'. Roddy claimed that this is 'clearly not true'. 'This narrative is clear miss-direction because the state obligation they are referring to only relates to commitments for rewetting detailed under article 11 of the Nature Restoration Law and will include approximately 100,000ha,' he said. 'While this is helpful, we must understand that this is a tiny element in the overall land area and commitments required, under a law that will impact at least 1.6 million hectares,' Roddy added. The INHFA, along with other farm organisations and stakeholders, are currently part of an ongoing process to develop a nature restoration plan for Ireland, which is required under the law. The organisation's president called for 'honesty' in this process. 'Starting this process on a lie as obvious as this is a major red flag and does get you wondering what else is being spun, lied about or withheld,' Roddy commented. According to the INHFA president, the state may own enough land to meet rewetting obligations under Article 11 of the Nature Restoration Law, but Article 4 of the law covers restoration of existing habitats and re-establishment of lost habitats, which, Roddy suggested, will take in more land than the state can provide for itself. 'Farmers, landowners, and rural communities continue to be misled through clever manipulation into believing that there isn't a direct threat to their property,' he claimed. 'It is time that the minister publicly clarifies that the state had not near enough land to meet all the obligations that will be required though the NRL,' Roddy said.
