Flood-hit farmers will be forced out of business

Date Published: 30-Jan-2013

A WARNING has been issued this week that hundreds of flooded farmers in the east of the county will go out of business this year, due mainly to the increased fodder costs brought about by the incessant rains.

Michael Silke, Chairman of the IFA’s Flood Project Team, told the Connacht Tribune that thousands of farmers and householders in the Shannon Callows area, now felt completely abandoned by the Government in their hour of need.

“It really is high time that Ministers like Simon Coveney (Agriculture) and Brian Hayes (OPW) ‘came out of their tents’ in Dublin and Cork and saw at first hand what conditions are like in rural Ireland.

“Our local TDs seem to be completely toothless in terms of having any say at all, as regards the needs of rural Ireland. The only things we got from Simon Coveney over recent months were cuts in schemes like the Suckler Cow, Grassland Sheep and Disadvantaged Areas,” said Michael Silke.

He also said that changes at ‘the top’ of the OPW (Office of Public Works) had meant that some momentum that had been built up on flood relief measures – following the 2009 deluge – had not been followed up on, with nearly all remedial drainage proposals currently at a complete standstill.

Tens of thousands of acres have been flooded in the Shannon Callows area since the middle of last Summer with farmers now paying up to €35 a bale for silage over recent months.

“Whether it be the Shannon, Suck or Dunkellin, not one inch of progress has been made under the stewardship of Brian Hayes. This Government is undoubtedly a disaster for the West of Ireland – we don’t even appear on the radar at the table where the power really lies in Dublin,” said Michael Silke.

He warned that while the flooding situation hadn’t yet reached the disastrous levels of late 2009, it was going in that direction, following the downpours of recent days.

“The Shannon Callows is just one massive lake for the past six months – people are now living in the middle of a permanent flood,” said Michael Silke.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.