Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response and acknowledge her presence her but it is pitiful that none of the three Ministers could explain their absence from the House this morning. The extension to grazing lands, which was contained in the reply, is welcome. The difficulty is that farmers are being caught by a double whammy in terms of the loss of their fodder and the loss of the after grass because they have had to let stock in on some of the grazing land. It is not necessarily the floodlands themselves; it is that farmers have had to let stock in other grazing land as a result of that and this is not acknowledged in the proposals that have been put and that all the farmers who have been affected on the River Suck and the Little Brosna, some of whom have still to receive an expression of interest letter, are being discriminated against.

I ask the Minister of State to do one thing, namely, go back to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and at least have him to do me the courtesy of responding to four points. One is that he expedites the compensation process to ensure that payments are made promptly and certainly well before the end of this year. The second is that he expands the scope of the compensation scheme to include all farmers affected by flooding regardless of whether the flooding is on the main River Shannon or its tributaries. The third is that he reassesses the compensation amount and the criteria taking into account the loss of grazing land and the actual extent of the damage, which far exceeds the current estimation. The fourth is that the Department establishes a more inclusive and consultative process with the farming community to ensure that all affected parties have their voices heard and their needs met. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that the Minister responds to those four issues without delay.

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