The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association have cautiously welcomed the appointment of Padraig Gibbons as new Chair of the Commonage Implementation Committee (CIC). “The appointment is long overdue as the committee has not met for over a year” said INHFA Chair Vincent Roddy
The INHFA are presently seeking an urgent meeting with the CIC to discuss issues on commonages in relation to flexibility on the individual min/max figures and how they intend to address issues on commonages where the 50% participation has not being achieved.
Another issue of concern that needs to be addressed ideally by the Minister is ensuring every commonage has an appointed Planner. Presently stated Roddy “there are still some commonages with no appointed planner and some where the appointed planner is no longer in a position to complete the plan. On these commonages farmers in GLAS need to be reassured that their payments will not be held up due to circumstances outside their control,”
