image 1

Co-ordinated Approach To Assist Farmers Affected By Flooding Agreed

At the meeting this week IFA, Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, agreed to work closely together in a co-ordinated way to assess the difficulties being experienced on farms as a result of flooding and any impact of fodder loss or damage to buildings.

[ads1]

Tom Turley, IFA Flood Project Team Chairman welcomed the commitment from Teagasc that they would carry out an audit of the impact flooding has had on farms over the last number of weeks.

At the meeting, Tom Turley set out a number of key actions needed to address the severe problems for farmers and rural communities as a result of the widespread flooding. IFA is calling for:

  • a flood relief fund to be established, which must be much broader than the one announced last week;
  • farmers must also be included to help them offset the cost of damage to their buildings and loss of fodder;
  • flood-relief projects which are still at planning stage such as south Galway and Bandon, Co Cork will have to be fast-tracked;
  • Teagasc should work closely with farmers in those areas that have been affected. There is a helpline 076-1064408 and farmers should avail of it;
  • all outstanding farm payments to be made to the 500 farmers in flood-affected areas whose payment is due to them.

image (1)

Tom Turley has also re-iterated his call for a single authority for the management of our river systems to avoid inflicting more hardship on communities.