Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State is aware, Storm Emma and the Beast from the East caused major grief and hassle all over the country last week. Much of the damage and grief was temporary and although it caused a lot of hassle at the time, people were left in their homes despite the damage to homes, the water shortages and the power cuts. Although it was very hard, it was temporary. However, the damage to farms and farming livelihoods is way more long term.

What systems have been put in place for farmers in Cork South-West and nationally who have experienced extreme losses as a result of the recent weather conditions, especially in circumstances where milk was not collected and buildings collapsed, resulting in the loss of animals in some instances? Over the course of the week, my office in Cork South-West has been inundated with constituents relaying instances of the difficult situations experienced by them during the recent weather conditions. In particular, members of the agricultural sector seem to have been very badly affected.

Farmers were already coming to terms with the fodder shortage and, in my opinion, the inadequate response from the Department by way of the fodder crisis fund, which only served to accelerate prices in an already strained situation. Now, on top of this, they face potential financial ruin as they count the cost of collapsed buildings, the inability to get milk delivered to creameries and, worst of all, the loss of cattle and sheep due to the extreme elements and unprecedented snowdrifts. I am advised that costs could run into tens of thousands of euro and, clearly, farmers could not have made allowance for this.

Amazingly, there is no recourse for farmers in circumstances of severe weather patterns. This is despite the Government refusing the option of including a scheme in Ireland's 2014-20 rural development programme which would have provided an opportunity to compensate farmers for losses to agricultural land and to production caused by bad weather. This was remiss of the Minister and it is a decision that has left many farmers without the option of an annual compensation scheme, particularly in circumstances where climate change is having a greater impact year on year. It goes without saying that an application for a permanent weather compensation scheme should be included in the next rural development programme submitted to Brussels. It would obviously not be retrospective and, therefore, of little significance and little help in the current situation experienced by west Cork farmers.

Given the Department has been running a huge underspend across a number of programmes, I call on the Minister, Deputy Creed, to give an undertaking to allocate some of this underspend to a dedicated compensation fund that farmers may access. This should be implemented immediately and compensation should be payable in a timely manner, without the need for arduous and convoluted paperwork. I am very fond of my farmers in west Cork. I am asking the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, to please put some compensation in place and to not make it hard to access, with lots of form-filling and toing and froing. My farmers need compensation and they need it now.

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