Farmers Must Be Included in €5m Fund for Flooding

Farmers must be included in the €5m fund to aid businesses that have suffered damage to their property in the current flooding, IFA Flood Project Chairman Tom Turley insisted this evening.

He said farm businesses have been severely affected and have suffered financial losses and they deserve the same treatment as businesses in urban areas.

Tom Turley reiterated the IFA’s call for a centralised approach to flood prevention and, in relation to the proposal to introduce a flood forecasting and warning service within Met Éireann, he said the funding for this would be better spent on preventative measures to ensure flooding does not occur when severe weather hits.

In addition, Tom Turley said we must not have interference in planned programmes of flood relief by state bodies such as the NPWS or the Fisheries Board. In some of the areas badly affected today, this is the prime reason why we have flooding.

IFA has called for all outstanding payments be made to farmers in affected areas and that no cross compliance checks take place in the affected areas. Following a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture last night, Tom Turley welcomed the flexibility to be shown in relation to issues surrounding the disposal of slurry in overflowing tanks and in relation to the movement of animals, in consultation with District Veterinary Offices.