At least two groups of farmers in Co Laois have banded together and are lobbying to have their land included in the revised disadvantaged areas. Representatives from both groups attended Friday’s IFA meeting on the ongoing review. The farmers are based along the river Barrow and explained that despite their land being subject to extreme flooding, they have been excluded from disadvantaged areas up until now. This decision was made, one told the meeting, on the basis that their land was in the same townland as tillage land.

IFA South Leinster chair James Murphy, who chaired the meeting, stressed to these farmers that the review of disadvantaged areas now under way was examining all farmland, including land like theirs that was currently not considered disadvantaged.

James Murphy said that presence of tillage land in an area would no longer exclude that district electoral division or townland from disadvantaged areas status.

Many farmers among the 250 at the meeting warned that the review must make decisions at townland rather than the bigger DED unit level. A number of farmers called for the Department of Agriculture to base eligibility on soil quality only rather than moisture levels. A number called for the whole island to be declared as disadvantaged. However, some other farmers objected on the basis that this would see farmers on the best land getting payments they didn’t need.

Murphy said that IFA’s priority was to have the new maps of disadvantaged areas include all areas currently disadvantaged and to get other areas included as required, by an appeals process if necessary.

IFA president Joe Healy said that to facilitate this he wanted the total funding pool for the ANC scheme restored to the €250m that applied before 2009.