Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The recent severe floods of December and early January caused widespread problems and have impacted significantly on a number of farms. Farms in western counties and those located in the catchment areas of larger rivers, including the Shannon, were most significantly affected. From my own first-hand experience of the situation it was clear that farmers experienced significant difficulties including loss of fodder, damage to sheds and milking parlours and challenges in managing livestock. Livestock was also lost in the floods.

While the problem of preventing regular flooding of agricultural lands at risk is one that requires an integrated inter-agency response, the immediate problems facing the worst affected farmers must be dealt with directly and at first hand. When the floods started last December, the welfare of animals on some farms was at risk due to rising water levels and lack of access to critical fodder supplies. To deal with this problem, I operated an emergency welfare scheme to provide the worst affected farms with short-term emergency feed. To date, 136 farmers have benefited from this scheme, receiving 360 tonnes of concentrate in total, some of which was dropped in by helicopter in south Galway.

As the floods continued unabated, a significant number of farmers experienced damage and losses to stocks of fodder and feed. Following Government agreement, I launched a fodder scheme on 7 January, to assist these farmers in replacing fodder including hay, silage, straw and concentrates that were badly damaged by the flooding and where these losses were not covered by insurance. As of Tuesday last, 183 applications for support had been received under the scheme. On-farm visits will be undertaken by Department personnel in all cases to confirm the quantities of fodder lost due to flooding. The closing date for applications is tomorrow, Friday, 22 January. The application period is relatively short in order to ensure we can make payments quickly, which we want to do. Farmers will get full market value for their lost fodder.

A further measure is also under consideration to cover a very small number of farmers who have experienced extreme hardship, including through the loss of livestock. Any such measure must comply with European Commission state aid rules. We will publish details of this more extensive support scheme for the farms that have suffered extreme hardship.

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