Under the proposed redraft of the European Union’s (EU) Integrated Pollution and Control Directive (IPPC), pig farmers could be hit with extra red tape and expenses, according to the Irish Independent.

The Irish Farming Association (IFA) told the newspaper the country’s pig farmers would be hit hard, while Ireland East Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Mairead McGuinness explained each farmer in the industry could be stuck with an extra bill of thousands of euros under the proposed changes.

“The EU Commission has decided to introduce changes to the licensing of large pig farms, which would add additional costs and bureaucracy,” she told the newspaper.

Those costs could reach euros 25,000 per permit application, Ms McGuinness added.

According to Envirowise, the IPPC is an integrated approach to regulating the impact of industrial pollution on the air, land and water.

The IFA looks after the rights of farmers in Ireland and has been in operation for over 50 years.

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