Funding must be made available to farmers affected by snow and flooding, Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said. He added that collapsed buildings, animal deaths and milk collection issues spell major losses for farmers.

“Despite the increasing frequency of adverse and unusual weather events, the Government refused the option of including a scheme in Ireland’s 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme (RDP), which would have provided an opportunity to compensate farmers from losses to agricultural land and production caused by bad weather,” he said.

“An application for a permanent weather compensation fund should be included in the next RDP amendment submitted to Brussels by the Government.”

McConalogue argues that underspends across a number of programmes could be allocated to a dedicated compensation fund.

“The farmers affected by Storm Emma will need assistance to get back on their feet and Minister Creed should step up to the mark. His Department has been running huge underspends across a number of programmes over the past few years.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Martin Kenny has called for leeway to be given to farmers undergoing inspections so that damage caused by the effects of Storm Emma will be taken into account.

“Many farmers were already busy with lambing and calving and now are faced with dealing with insurance companies to make claims due to weather damage. No one should be penalised for damage to outhouses or sheds in these circumstances,” Kenny said. “The minister should either postpone inspections for sufficient time for repairs to be carried out, or take account of the storm damage and not penalise farmers for it.”

Read more

'There is absolute devastation' - Healy