Farmers must be reimbursed for the burden of land designations through a direct payment, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has said.

The INHFA has called on Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcom Noonan to ensure farmers and landowners are acknowledged for the financial impact of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protected Areas (SPA) designations.

These farmers are curtailed in their farming activity

Concerns of over 30,000 farmers that are impacted by land designations were outlined in a meeting with Minister Noonan, which was attended by farming representatives and other industry stakeholders. Roddy said: "These farmers are curtailed in their farming activity through the 38 Activities Requiring Consent (ARCs) and this burden must be recognised and addressed."

Through these ARCs, farmers are, he added, “required to consider on a daily basis how any proposed farming action could be at variance with any of these activities".

Roddy said that these ARCs include normal farming activities, such as fencing, topping and spreading lime, as well as chemical and organic fertiliser.

"It is now quite clear that there is a transactional cost to farming designated lands.

"Since the introduction of these designations, farmers have had to rely on agri-environment schemes as a means of reimbursement," he added.

This, he said, doesn’t recognise the financial burden imposed through the designation, with farmers paid for the management of the designated sites through a payment process that has fallen from €242/ha in REPS to €79/ha under GLAS.

The association are calling for the establishment of a State-backed fund to cover any loss incurred as a result of designation where land has been sold

“As these agri-environment schemes had a maximum payment level irrespective of whether your land is designated or not, then the merit of only paying farmers through this process is very questionable,” said Roddy.

In addition to a baseline payment for designations, the INHFA leader also called for action on the devaluation of land resulting from a designation.

"On this, the association are calling for the establishment of a State-backed fund to cover any loss incurred as a result of designation where land has been sold.

"For example, if a specific type of non-designated land in the area is selling for €5,000/ac, and due to the designation sells for €2000/ac, then this fund would compensate the seller for the €3,000 lost as a result of the designation," he said.

Roddy argued that this is "the very least" any landowner should expect if their land has been earmarked to deliver a public good through the process of an SAC or SPA designation.