Macra members marched marched from Athy to Dublin on Tuesday and Wednesday this week demanding an overhaul of Government rural policy.

Chief among their proposals is the development of a farm succession scheme which would see older farmers paid to retire and pass on the land to the next generation.

Macra questioned the Government’s definition of a family farm as “average” and “typical” and demanded that Government clarifies the definition. The Minister for Agriculture defined family farms, for the purposes of TAMS III applications, to be 90 cows or under. Macra said that the current definition “flies in the face of the rural voters in Ireland”.

A Macra delegation delivered the proposals to An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the three ministers for agriculture on Wednesday.

Rewetting

Macra said the proposed nature restoration law, which would see parts of the country rewet, will result in huge areas of the west and midlands with “little or no economic activity” and that this would have a “catastrophic effect” on rural communities.

It wants to see the supporting science behind the assertion that there is 355,000ha of drained peatlands in Ireland and a full assessment carried out into the impact of the regulation.

Rural issues

Macra also called for a Citizen’s Assembly on the future of rural Ireland, comprising of rural young people, to be established.

On rural planning, it called for a consistent application of planning permission criteria nationwide and for the planning process to be simplified for people who wish to build on family-owned land.

It is seeking a specific action plan and strategy to ensure that GP numbers in rural areas are maintained in the short-term and increased in the long-term.

The rural youth organisation has also sought increased funding for the Local Link service to improve rural transport and for the timetabling of rural bus services to align with standard working hours so that commuters can avail of the service.