Call for rethink on forestry land sell-off to foreign investors
CONCERN has been expressed about how a land sell-off to foreign investors for forestry will impact farmers, particularly in the west of Ireland.
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said he is 'alarmed' at proposals encouraging the sale of Irish agricultural land to a British investment fund to meet our national climate targets.
Mr. Kelleher has demanded an urgent rethink of government strategy when it comes to achieving forestry goals.
“Any proposals that centre around selling Irish farmland from under the feet of Irish farmers are unacceptable to ICSA,” he said.
Mr. Kelleher made his comments following revelations that up to 50,000 hectares of agricultural land deemed suitable for forestry could be acquired for planting in a deal between Coillte, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and a British investment fund.
“Such a deal would inevitably adversely impact farmers in the west of Ireland as well as others on poorer land. As such it would also disproportionately affect suckler and sheep farmers and make land availability - which is already a problem - even worse,” he commented.
At the time of its recent publication, ICSA stated that the Climate Action Plan was 'long on aspiration but short on specific funding strategies'.
“One thing is for certain, however,” he said. “Nowhere in the plan did it mention the sale of land equivalent to 1,500 average size farms to foreign investors to meet our goals. Neither did it mention driving environmentally sustainable drystock farmers off the land but that is exactly what these proposals would do by pricing local farmers out. It would amount to a suckler, beef, and sheep cull in everything but name.”
Added Mr. Kelleher: “It is also deeply concerning that the Irish Strategic Investment Fund is being used by foreign investors; the ISIF should support investment by Irish citizens not foreign investors, especially when it comes to land that took many centuries for us to regain our sovereignty over.
“ICSA is clear that any trees planted must be planted by Irish farmers and must be done so on a voluntary basis and for the benefit of Irish farmers. It is also vital that any carbon credits accrued from such planting are secured for the benefit of those farmers and no one else.
“It is beyond unacceptable that any sitting government should facilitate the large scale purchasing of land by foreign investors at the expense of Irish farmers and a rethink on the whole forestry strategy is now urgent.”
The IFA has also voiced concern, saying the focus of the State planting programme, as well as Exchequer spending, should be on farmer planting. This has the greatest positive impact on the economy, as the majority of the money generated from forest premiums and timber sales is spent locally, fuelling economic growth and supporting jobs and businesses in towns across Ireland.