March 02, 2003
The Lie of the Land
Sean MacConall in the Irish Times' Weekender looks at the
dispute between farmers and Dúchas and traces the history of the dispute back
to arguments over Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) grants, administered by the
European Union. REPS meant that farmers were paid to maintain hedgerows and
fences and generally keep the land in good order - it meant that farmers in
scenic areas would be paid to keep the land in a manner that would benefit
tourists, walkers, etc. Unfortunately, the REPS scheme is quite restrictive and
(surprise, surprise) beset with bureaucracy. The EU has not helped matters by
cutting an access grant that farmers received in order to compensate for tourists
and ramblers walking over their land.
The most recent survey of tourists coming to Ireland has
found that 60% listed walking as one of the main reasons they came here.
As usual, while different groups argue, tourists (including Irish
ones) will be impacted.
The refusal of the EU to allow the access payments to be
made to farmers has created ill-feeling and has led to the part-closure of some
of […] leisure outlets.
Now, it appears that the Government is not prepared to make up for the lost
payments from the REPS scheme, which is 75% funded by Brussels.