Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach's office for choosing this matter for the Commencement debate this morning. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, to the House.

The west coast was hit by Storm Bert in the middle of the last general election. Many other parts of the country and the UK were also affected. On Friday, 22 November, a deep Atlantic low-pressure system brought extremely wet and windy weather to Galway and Connemara, with 60 mm of rain falling within a short period. Saturated ground, combined with snow accumulation, led to a surface run-off into streams and rivers, which led to a rapid rise in local rivers. The storm resulted in significant levels of damage to roads infrastructure. The run-off of the precipitation caused landslides on some of the hillside areas of Maam and Leenane in Connemara in particular. The impact of the storm resulted in the destruction of fencing on many upland farms. In many cases, in the first place, reaching those areas involved helicopter drops to bring in the fencing materials to put the fences in place. Thousands of euro worth of damage was caused. It is necessary to replace the fencing. Farmers can prove the fencing was in place because they have receipts for the fencing they put up in recent years. The investment of two or three years ago has been wiped out and the fences must be replaced.

Unfortunately, there were also cases of sheep being swept away in the floods. One farmer lost at least 70 ewes, which were drowned or entangled in trees and wire and were recovered the next day. He also had the cost of disposing of the carcases that were recovered. An act of God, if one likes, in Storm Bert has resulted in accumulated costs for farmers.

There is a precedent in the support scheme in the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth which was put in place for farmers after a similar storm there. Only active farmers with herd numbers who were in the basic investment scheme, BIS, were supported. They were able to provide receipts for the damage and loss and the replacement cost of fencing, including helicopter drops, and the loss of sheep and the disposal of carcases. I urge the Minister to look at the issue, accept the precedent from the Cooley Peninsula and put in place a similar scheme for the Maam-Leenane valley of Connemara on foot of the damage caused by Storm Bert.Unfortunately, with the impact of climate change, this could be more likely to happen in the future. With higher rainfall and a greater chance of storms happening, there is potential for greater damage across Ireland, which could impact on farmers up and down the country. The Department must be cognisant of this. In light of the precedent of the Cooley Peninsula scheme, it is right and fair that a similar scheme be put in place for the area of Maam and Leenane to compensate farmers for the added costs and disruption resulting from Storm Bert.