Enough hedgerow to reach from Cork to Kiev planted under ACRES
Some 2,400km of new hedgerow, enough to go from Cork to Kiev, have been planted under the country's flagship €1.5bn agri-environmental scheme, ACRES.
But the country still faces a biodiversity crisis, the Dáil was told during statements on nature and wildlife.
It was held to highlight National Biodiversity Week, organised by the Irish Environmental Network and funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Ministers pointed out more than 54,000 farmers are now participating in ACRES and much progress has been made in delivering highly ambitious landscape actions.
But the Dáil was also reminded by Kerry Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly that much of the natural environment is under threat.
Our life support system is on the brink of collapse and the picture is stark. Over the past 40 or 50 years, every single indicator has been on a downward trend.
'Natural habitats are being degraded or homogenised, forest cover is being eroded, and species are becoming extinct.
'We, as a country, share a deep connection with nature and this is a devastating loss for Ireland.
'As a result of the deep connection we have with nature, however, there remains hope — hope that with the right determination and political will, we can turn this ship around. We are required to act,' he said.
Agriculture minister Martin Heydon said the amount of land farmed organically since 2020 reached 225,000ha last year.
Organic farmers are reducing their use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, improving soil health and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
This is just a flavour of how the implementation is delivering on the objective set out in the €9.8bn strategic plan, which extends to all aspects of agriculture and rural life in Ireland, he said.
Mr Heydon said ACRES aims to address the more complex environmental issues through targeted actions on farm and landscape level.
'The scheme has encountered issues, of which I am acutely aware, as it sets a new framework for delivering on complex environmental actions in tandem with farmers and advisers,' he said.
Nature and biodiversity minister Christopher O'Sullivan said he was under no illusion.
We have not solved the biodiversity crisis. Species are still in trouble. Habitats are still under threat and many trends are going the wrong way. However, we have an opportunity to fix that.
'We are putting together a nature restoration plan, and we should use it as an opportunity, first and foremost, to improve outcomes for biodiversity, but it should also be done in a collaborative way.
'We need to include landowners, farmers, stakeholders and conservationists. Collaboration is the key', he said.
Mr O'Sullivan said he had seen at first hand the amazing results of collaboration between farmers and conservationists.
'Corncrake LIFE was a difficult journey at the start. There was distrust between the conservationists and the farmers.
'It was a frosty relationship, but now we are the stage where those same farmers and conservationists are having cups of tea in the farmers' kitchens and depending on one another. They need one another.
'It has not only resulted in a good outcome for farmers, with them benefiting financially, but we are seeing it have a benefit for an extraordinary bird, the corncrake, that has such an important place in Ireland's history.
'We are seeing their numbers increase significantly in some areas because of this collaboration. It is a model for how Ireland should move forward to benefit nature,' he said.
Labour TD Ciarán Ahern said some 91% of the country's habitats were in an unfavourable condition and 15% of protected species were in decline.
A lot of the degradation we have seen in our biodiversity and ecosystems is, historically, of farming practices. I acknowledge there is a lot of anxiety among that cohort about the necessary measures we have to take in the agricultural space in order to deal with this crisis.
'We saw that in some of the responses to the nitrates directive and the EU nature restoration law, especially in regard to rewetting. We urgently need to rewet a considerable amount of our peatlands, but we must do so in a manner that ultimately benefits those who work that land. The principles of a just transition must apply,' he said.
Cork TD Liam Quaide said the legal protections in place for habitats were wide open to abuse, due mainly to exemptions in the Wildlife Act, the cultural failure to take such crimes seriously and the ongoing lack of resourcing of the NPWS.
Green Party leader Roderick O'Gorman said the Europe he wanted to see had more bees and fewer bombs.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the State was not only failing to do enough to protect biodiversity, but was actually destroying it through the ongoing killing of badgers.
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