Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important topic. It is very timely that it be debated here this evening.

Late last summer I met with farmers and representatives from the Save Our Shannon organisation, with which the Minister of State is probably familiar. This was in the midst of devastating summer flooding in the Shannon Callows. Farms from Athlone to Meelick were devastated. Not only do farmers and others living in those areas have to contend with winter flooding, they now have to contend with summer flooding as well. These farmers were left with no grazing and were unable to make hay or silage for feed throughout the winter months. Of course, we know that in some cases and in some years, depending on the weather and conditions, cattle are sometimes indoors until April.

When I, along with party colleagues, met farmers that evening, they were in a really bad way. They spoke of the huge financial pressures they were under. Some were struggling with mortgage repayments. Others were struggling with being able to send their children to college. They were facing financial ruin, but they were also dealing with the severe impact on their mental health and that impact on their families and children.

At that time, the Save Our Shannon organisation and a number of the farmers mounted a very successful campaign for compensation. This was not money for themselves but money to try to buy feed bales that are already at an all-time high price, just to be able to feed their animals through the winter. In many cases, cattle had to be taken off the land earlier than the winter months, so they needed larger quantities of feed for a longer period. They welcomed the announcement that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, made on the establishment of the Shannon Callows flood scheme and the recognition of what they were suffering and the severe financial blow to them.

They welcomed the announcement by the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, in respect of the establishment of the Shannon Callows flood scheme, which recognised the suffering of those farmers and the severe financial blow to them. I welcomed that funding, as did others in the Opposition. However, when the detail of that scheme became known, a number of questions arose. Figures provided by the Department suggested that 230 farmers would receive compensation. At that point, alarm bells went off because it became clear that some farmers would get the compensation and others, who were affected no differently, would not. At that stage, I brought a number of farmers before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to allow them a platform to raise their issues with the compensation scheme. The Minister has yet to move on the issues that have been raised.

I previously raised the cases of farmers with land along the Little Brosna river and those on the River Suck who are equally affected by flooding relating to the River Shannon. They are not being compensated despite being affected in the same way. Why is that the case?

The Save Our Shannon Organisation has been in touch many times with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. On behalf of the farmers in the area, it has been asking the questions that farmers want answered. Those questions include why 15 ha was set as the limit for compensation and how that was decided and if the Minister is aware that the area monitoring system being used to identify land that is flooded excludes many of the farmers whose land is actually flooded. The most recent case I brought to the Department of agriculture related to a farmer who did not receive the offer of compensation when another farmer whose land is separated from his by a drain and was flooded in the same way received a letter offering compensation.

The scheme is clearly not working. It is not assisting the very genuine farmers who have been affected by flooding through no fault of their own. We must remember the real impact that has on farmers and their families. Those impacts are not only financial because there is also a real impact on their mental health. There are flaws in the scheme that need to be sorted out. The Save Our Shannon Organisation has made those flaws known to the Minister many times. We need them to be addressed because we all want the scheme to work, to benefit farmers and to compensate them for the considerable losses they have experienced.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The first issue I wish to raise relates to the Minister of State's reference to the Shannon Callows SAC. Nowhere on the Government website, where this scheme was announced, along with the details of how to qualify for it and what is required, does the term "SAC" appear. I would like to think that is not an attempt to reduce the amount of compensation to be paid out to farmers whose lands have been flooded and that, all of a sudden, farmers must have lands within the SAC to be eligible. If that is the case, it is deeply regrettable and is a matter I will return to directly with the Minister.

I welcome that a number of farmers have been paid. Of course that is welcome. I have been made aware that a number of farmers for whom 10 ha or more were flooded have only been paid for 3 ha, 4 ha or 5 ha. I would like that to be explained. The Save Our Shannon Organisation has told the Minister many times that the lands of more than 400 farmers have been flooded. The main injustice is in situations where compensation is not available to a farmer whose land has flooded but is available to the farmer next door whose land has also flooded. That should ring alarm bells in the context of the monitoring system that is being used because it is clearly not working.

The wider issue is important. The Minister of State mentioned the position of the Department on the Shannon flood management working group. The intention behind one of the first pieces of legislation I brought forward with colleagues in this House when I was elected in 2020 was to establish one authority to manage and take responsibility for the River Shannon once and for all. While I understand that is not under the direct remit of the Department of agriculture, I ask that the position on the working group is used to progress legislation. Our legislation was debated in November 2020. The Minister said at the time that he would need nine months to do the Government's legislation. That was over three years ago and we are still waiting for it. We need an overall solution. We need to mitigate the flooding. There are clear flaws in the scheme that need to be addressed.