Environmental Pillar holds fresh talks with Agriculture House

Department of Agriculture on Kildare Street. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Claire Mc Cormack

April 01 2021 07:11 AM

The Environmental Pillar (EP) has held fresh talks with Department of Agriculture just weeks after its sudden exit from the 2030 Agri-Food Strategy committee, the Farming Independent has learned.

The development comes as the final draft of the Agri-Food Strategy 2030 – the much anticipated 10-year successor to Food Wise 2025 – is expected to be published this month.

In February the EP – an advocacy coalition representing 32 national environmental NGOs – formally withdrew from the strategy’s stakeholder committee due to what it described the draft plan’s “failures” to align agricultural production policies with environmental protection and legal obligations.

In a statement a Department spokesperson said: “It is anticipated that the 2030 Stakeholder Committee will finalise their deliberations shortly and that, alongside a draft environmental assessment, a draft Agri-Food Strategy to 2030 will be published in April.

"This publication will launch a public consultation process. The Agri-Food Strategy can only be finalised after that process is completed.”

While the Department said the EP’s exit has had “no impact” on proceedings, it confirmed that the pillar requested a meeting with the Agriculture House ministry since the announcement.

The spokesperson continued: “The Environmental Pillar nominee to the Agri-Food 2030 stakeholder committee announced their withdrawal from the process at a committee meeting on February 25.

"Following that announcement Minister McConalogue along with Minister of State Hackett and Minister of State Heydon, expressed regret at the decision and hoped the pillar would reconsider and engage in the strategy formation process, which is still ongoing.

"At the request of the Environmental Pillar, Minister McConalogue and Minister of State Hackett and Minister of State Heydon, along with the chair of the 2030 committee and Department officials, met with a range of representatives on March 11 where their views were heard and they were again invited to re-engage with the 2030 Agri-Food Strategy process.”