They say a week is a long time in politics, but if your shed has previously flooded or is at risk of flooding, you’re waiting five years for news of a voluntary farm building relocation scheme.

In 2016, TDs Eugene Murphy and Charlie McConalogue asked questions in the Dáil about such a scheme, with the latter asking the Minister for Agriculture the status of a Government study around the feasibility of a relocation scheme.

The reply from then Minister Creed said the Department of Agriculture, OPW and local authorities were looking if works could be carried out to protect at risk farm buildings in order to see if a scheme was feasible.

The same question was asked in 2018, in 2019 and in 2020, and the reply was that the study was being undertaken. I’m informed that this study is still going on. Maybe it will be another five years before it’s completed.