The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called for farm inspections to be suspended for at least a week as farmers deal with the aftermath of storm Éowyn.

ICMSA deputy president Eamonn Carroll said the last thing farmers need is an inspection by the Department of Agriculture or local authorities.

He added that with calving under way, farmers will be stressed and anxious enough and it would be grossly unfair to inspect and judge farms at present.

“To be honest, we shouldn’t have to even ask for this. But we do think that an official announcement by the Department and the other relevant inspecting bodies - that they will suspend inspections for the next week and then after that, make allowances for the damage caused by Éowyn and the extra workload that widespread loss of power is causing - is the very minimum that we should expect.

“There’s a great deal of stress and anxiety out there in areas of the country now and we should be trying to alleviate that and give the affected farmers a few days to see where they are and what needs to be done first,” he said.

Repairs

Carroll added that inspections will have to take into account the timeframe needed to get repairs done, following damage by storm Éowyn.

“Going forward, a lot of the repair work cannot be done overnight and farmers like everyone else will have to wait in line for the appropriate trades people to carry out repairs.

“[The] ICMSA thinks that where a farmer can show that he or she was proactive in getting repairs done, no penalty should apply for issues arising from the recent weather event,” he said.

Newly appointed Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon should welcome the opportunity to show farmers he understands the problems caused on farms by really extreme weather events, Carroll added.