DEAR SIR: Leo Varadkar’s proposal for farmers to relocate has some merit in it. So why not offer an option of compulsory purchase order (CPO) to farmers with flooded lands on the Shannon system and elsewhere. This is nothing new, in that the CPOs are issued for new motorways and bypasses that divide farms.

These lands could be utilised to promote the cause of regenerating wildlife and help to counter the drop in population of waders such as the curlew. The cost of constructing concrete barriers is not sustainable and is even more expensive than the CPO.

Concrete barriers only move the problem further downstream, applying the principle of Archimedes that a body or object will displace its volume in liquid.

Dredging is not a practical solution, as the silt will get washed back into the Shannon system. Another option might be for farmers to get into water buffalo for mozzarella cheese production – for obvious reasons!

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Galway farmer explains the realities of flooded farm