Impacted farmers had until midnight, November 27 to get their applications in, but not all farmers have been contacted by the Department of Agriculture, Food at the Marine (DAFM), or received their Expression of Interest forms, the IFA has claimed.
“We are also hearing there may have been some IT issues where not all impacted sites were correctly identified. At a minimum, the DAFM needs to push out the deadline so that everybody can apply. We have raised the issues with the DAFM but there has been no resolution yet. A degree of pragmatism and fairness needs to apply here,” said the IFA president.
“The damage done by the flooding meant thousands of acres of silage and hay were destroyed and unsalvageable. The €325/ha payment will go some way to alleviating the hardship caused by the weather conditions,” he added.
“It’s important that all impacted farmers get access to this scheme, and that the funding is released as soon as possible and that the conditions to apply are not too onerous. In the longer term, an agency must be established which would include local farmers to manage the River Shannon to rectify the problems. This must be established without delay and cannot be put on the long finger anymore,” he added.