Michael Fitzmaurice: Urges Land Commission Return to Protect Farms
Michael Fitzmaurice addressed farm policy, land ownership and environmental schemes, arguing that EU and successive government policies have devalued livestock and undermined small farms. He called for a return to instruments like the Land Commission, clearer definitions of a 'family farm' and tax measures to enable intergenerational transfers.
Immediate concerns
He opened with personal memories of farming economics to illustrate his point, recalling livestock prices from 1978 and arguing that current policies have forced farmers to need more land or livestock simply to survive.
Livestock decline and policy impact
He cited figures, saying 5.5 million farmers were lost in Europe over 15 years and 240,000 suckler cattle have disappeared, and blamed EU policy and successive governments for devaluing livestock and making calf rearing unprofitable until recently.
Land ownership and the Land Commission
He criticised EU law, compulsory purchase orders and SAC designations for reducing land value and farmers' rights. He argued the historical Land Commission helped redistribute land and suggested revisiting similar mechanisms, while urging a national discussion on what constitutes a 'family farm' - noting an average significant payment figure of about 34 hectares today and debating sizes such as 80, 100 or 500 acres.
Tax relief and succession measures
He proposed targeted tax breaks to enable parents to transfer farms to sons and daughters, arguing that without retirement schemes and fiscal incentives many will not pass land on and consolidation by large owners will continue.
Hedgerows and environmental scheme data
He challenged official hedgerow figures and data quality, referencing claims of thousands of kilometres planted or removed and questioning recent statistics. He also discussed the requirement for farmers to set aside a minimum 10% of land to qualify for certain eco-payments and said data on compliance remain thin.
Consequences and next steps
He warned that without strong rules and proactive measures Ireland risks a return to concentrated land ownership, with large owners displacing small farmers. He asked for further briefings on comparative examples such as France and urged policymakers to clarify definitions and incentives to protect rural livelihoods.
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I was just listening earlier on, I don't think you have to be Einstein to know what's gone wrong. We were all probably brought up in small farms. I remember in 1978, God rest my sister, she bought four discard care, it was £2,780. We sold a Friesian Bullock that I'll always remember him as only a gossum. In Rascam and Merch, they'd be giving them Clare Indoo and everything that time, and he went £970. So three of them was held to buy the care. Many of them would you want today. Can you not see what's happening? That EU policy and successive government policy has devalued the price of the livestock. We're all brought up on farms. We're all brought up on small farms. We might not have a lot, but we had everything we wanted. And now, you need more land to survive, you need more cattle to survive, or more sheep to survive. And we're doing all these inquests into things. I think we need to just look at the facts of what has happened. Well, 5.5 million farmers lost in Europe in 15 years. That's the facts. Why? Because they got out. Why do you need more land now? Because to try and make a living. If you were a suckler farm, why have we lost 240,000 suckler cattle? Because the calf wasn't paying until now. That's it. It's all about meth. It's all about survival. I saw there you had a reference in the line of about who owns the land. A farmer is the registered owner. There is CPO, as Paul Daly said earlier on, that likes for a road and different things. But we have to get the definition. The EU law has trampled our rights, to be quite frank about it. I know more about SACs than probably most people, unfortunately. And seeing someone can designate your land and leave it valueless. But we have accepted that, because we have voted for every treaty. And let's not be whistling about it after that. That's the bottom line on that. In the line of, if we want to do something, in my opinion, we had a great system one time. Mightn't be the greatest or straightest in places. But the land commission was the system that in Leitrim, in Galway, in all our areas, it brought people, it was probably in Kerry, it brought people from the western small farms up to Meath and other places. It brought land. It helps. But the one thing we have to do, and it's a hard conversation to have, what is a family fair? And that's the conversation and the answer that we'll decide it all. What is a family fair? Is it 100 acres? The average significant fair and payment, I think, is 34 hectares at the moment. Is it 100 acres? Is it 80 acres? Is it 500 acres? Or what is it? And that's the conversation that someone that we have to decide on. Or we're going nowhere in the line of that. I see you've referred to mapping and silotype and water. I don't know what that has got to do with trying to get farms into young farmers. And the other thing that we could help in is if a father or a father to their son or daughter, if they were allowed the tax break. Because unless there's a scheme brought in for retirement, you won't hand lend on. And if I give it to you, Paul, I can get tax-free allowance. But if I give it to my son, I can't get anything. So these are things that we have to look at, I think, to be proactive. France, I'd like to hear. I don't know what happened in France. So you might just give me a quick briefing because I have a few bits I want to go through. The other thing, like, are we going to have the likes of Land Commission and decide that if it's a farming area, it's going to be at a price? Because I see you've a part of your proposal or your document where you spoke about land beside you and you were buying it and whatever. But you cannot dictate or if you were selling your land, you'd like to get the best price you can. But we have to have conversations, can some guy that has 10,000 or 11,000 acres come in and blow out everyone? Or we have to go set in hard rules or else we're going back to Landlord Ireland and it'll be Irish people that'll be the new landlords. And that's where we're heading. Let's be very clear on that. Whether we like that or whether we don't. And we're heading that way. And it's aided and abetted by both the EU and successive governments. The other thing, Alan, I see you spoke about hedgerows in the Manon report. The first thing is, and I think, like, you know, this seems to be trolloped out every time. Under the successive schemes with, I think, something off the top of my head, like 11,000 kilometres of hedgerows zone. Is that right or wrong? 11,000 kilometres removed. No, I've sown new hedgerows under all the scheme. I mean, I've seen a figure of 2,000 kilometres in recent years. We have a Google there, Mary Paul. I think it's really important to differentiate between newly planted hedgerows and removed. Have we that sown, yes or no? The figure, I mean, I think you raise a great point, Deputy, because data is very thin on the ground. I tried to get... We have it there dated up. We have it there, 11,000 kilometres of hedgerows planted through all the different farm schemes since the beginning of, say, 0-0. But the first thing I looked at here in your presentation was that we're 1,400 kilometres last. Now, I challenged the Monaghan situation before, where it was done in a circumference of three kilometres. Can, does people recognise, and I was interested in reading your situation where the flowers were sown, does people recognise that every farmer since the last cap has put 10%, 96.8% of farmers in this country has put 10% in space for nature? Right or wrong? Wrong. No, 96% has done it. Not 10%. So... Minimum is the minimum. No. Yes. There wouldn't be 10%. You have to put a minimum of 10% to get the eco. Just that you know. You are, but that's a weighted figure, and it wouldn't be accurate. You have to put 10% to get your eco if you're a farmer. Yes, but it wouldn't be an accurate estimation, 10%. It's the department that has done it. Yes. It's not us. Yeah. And second of all... So hedgerows are valued at 10 metres wide. No, no, I'm talking about space for nature. Yeah, yeah. You don't have to have all hedgerows for space for nature. I'm estimating the space for nature. Hedgerows are weighted at 10 metres wide. Yeah, but I'm not talking specifically about hedgerows. I am talking, if I have a drain, if I have an area left in space for nature, like you have done with your flowers, that's space for nature. Yes, but hedgerows are included. Yeah, hedgerows are included. I know that. But I'm saying every farmer, whether it's a drain or a ditch, the collards in some parts of the country, whether it's what you have done, whether it's a hedgerow or whatever, you have to have 10% put aside to qualify for eco. Yes or no? You have to have 10%, but the 10% isn't accurate. It could be 7%, it could be 8%. Hedgerows are weighted at 10 metres wide, and there's no hedgerow down my way at 10 metres. Well, can I just tell you, that most farmers in the west of Ireland have hit 22%. I would, yeah. So definitely, they're not shaving it tight. No, possibly. Right? And the one thing we'd do is better give them a bit of credit for it. In the line of that, because the Monaghan report was done in a 3km radius, where it was 10km brought down to 3km, and yes, the figures on that section was probably right, but you cannot multiply that by a country. No, definitely, I absolutely agree you can't, but the latest EPA figures show a figure of 1,400 kilometres removed per year, and the National Forestry Inventory talks about 1,000 hectares of hedgerow removed per annum between 2017 and 2022. Now, those are enormous figures, but again, the lack of good data, I think, is what unites us in this room. We need to know a lot more about where, you know, what is actually going on, and I think that one of the roles of the Land Observatory will be just that. Okay, and the other thing I wanted to, in the line of yours, Donald, I was reading your situation. You have said there was land beside you in tier, and then you couldn't get a farm. Am I right in saying that you signed up to an organic scheme and an acre scheme, and what you've said in that presentation? Yes. Without having the land for five years? Uh, yes. So you're not supposed to do that. Is that right? No, I had it, and the lease is gone now this year. No, but, yeah, but it's five years you're supposed to have land for if you're going into an acres or organic. Is that right or wrong? You're supposed to have a lease for five years or own it, one or the other. Yes, yeah, yeah. So if you do that, you pay back. There was an agreement that I buy the land. Right, and you couldn't buy it then because it went so dear. Yes. And in the line of, if we don't bring in a system, and this is for all European countries, we have to make hard decisions. Are we going to get landlords to keep buying us back and have less people in an area, or are we going to bring in the Lights to Land Commission, set a realistic price for land, and divide it out in the eight and the ten acres like it was done one time to local people that want it? And there's the other question, and no one is addressing this. How do we bring young people into farming? Do they want to farm? Because farming is seven days a week. It's not Friday at 12 o'clock, leave the site and go on the beer for the weekend. That's the difference. Thank you, Deputy Healy Ray.
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