Michael Finneran (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)

I raise this matter on the Adjournment to call on the Minister for Agriculture and Food to provide compensation to farmers in the Shannon and Suck river basin for the loss of fodder due to the severe flooding in the area in recent weeks. In particular I refer to my constituency of Roscommon-south Leitrim and the area of south Roscommon from Athlone, through the Clonown area, to Shannonbridge, on to Meelick and on the River Suck from Athleague, through the Ballyforan area, down through the Moore area to Shannon Harbour.

Given the extraordinary levels of rainfall in early May, farmers in that region who had taken their cattle to the callows in May had to withdraw them due to severe flooding. That is now causing severe hardship and a financial strain on the farmers involved, first, because of the cost of moving cattle, which must be moved by tractors, trailers and lorries, second, the fact that they had to go back on lands closed for hay and silage to be cut later in the year and, third, bagged and loose feedstuff, and in some cases hay and silage, had to be bought from merchants. It must be understood that these callows, by and large, are now useless for 2006. The picture I paint on behalf of the farmers who live in the south Roscommon area and who have suffered a great financial loss over the past four weeks is not a rosy one and it will have repercussions in terms of their income for 2006.

I ask that the Minister pay a direct fodder payment to the farmers involved. It is easy for the Teagasc offices to evaluate for the Minister the losses involved. I do not want to hear that they must go through the community welfare officer, the Department of Social and Family Affairs or the Red Cross, or that some other group will examine hardship cases. Farmers are business people and they have suffered a major loss through no fault of their own. It was an act of God. There is a responsibility on the Department of Agriculture and Food. I call also on the Department of Finance to approve moneys for the Department of Agriculture and Food to allow payments to be made to these farmers directly through the Department of Agriculture and Food.

The Teagasc offices in County Roscommon should be called in and asked to evaluate the losses and a financial package should be put together to meet those losses. Nobody is looking for a major package but losses are being experienced and in many cases they amount to several thousand euro to individual farmers. Farmers throughout the country are not making a living from their land to any great extent. Indeed, they have difficulty surviving. Most of them are surviving on the basis of a spouse working or working themselves part time.

I have had numerous representations from farmers and farmer organisations in the south Roscommon area. I am aware that representatives from the Westmeath and Offaly constituencies have had similar representations, and I presume that applies to east Galway. I am talking about a pocket of Ireland in the midlands that is concentrated from the weir at Meelick towards Athlone and the implications of that on the River Shannon and the farmers on both sides, particularly the south Roscommon area as far as I am concerned, and from Shannon Harbour to Athleague, both on the Roscommon and the east Galway side. As far as I am aware, it is only in that pocket of the country that this hardship is being experienced.

This situation is ongoing and there is nothing the farmers can do about it. The only way we can respond as a Parliament is to call on the Minister with responsibility, namely, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, to provide a financial package for these people. That should be done through the Department of Agriculture and Food, with the Department of Finance providing the necessary funds. The statutory body capable, on past experience, of doing evaluations, namely, Teagasc, must carry out those investigations as a matter of urgency in the interest of the farmers in the region.

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