The Minor Flood Mitigation and Coastal Protection Scheme was reviewed earlier this year to include farm buildings under commercial premises for the benefit of assessment.

The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood works or studies to address localised flooding and coastal protection problems within administrative areas.

Applications are processed and approved by the local authorities and payments are not made to individuals, but to the local authority.

Under the criteria, farmers can claim support from €623/ha to €1,474/ha, depending on where the land is located and related to the losses associated with flooding.

Farmyards will now be included in the same way as commercial premises at a rate of up to €30,000 where the farmyard is flooded or up to €10,000 where the farmyard is under threat.

To date, there has been a total of 84 applications from 17 local authorities under the scheme in 2017, with Galway by far leading the applications on a total of 36.