Tensions have reached breaking point in Wexford this morning as two drystock farmers, Henry Deacon snr and jnr, have staged a blockade on the M11 motorway works outside their farm.

“We’re at our wits end trying to deal with the construction firm BAM,” Henry Deacon jnr told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Currently we’re here blockading this road and we’ve had no engagement from BAM.

“All they did was to send out the gardaí, who came and talked to us before saying they couldn’t do anything and leaving.

Drainage work that has been carried out has been totally inadequate

“We had an on-site meeting last week and they [BAM] were to come back to us this week and when they came back to us they didn’t have any solutions.”

The Deacons allege that drainage work carried out by BAM has led to severe flooding on parts of their land.

“The drainage work that has been carried out has been totally inadequate,” Deacon said.

“The opening date for the motorway will come and the contractors will be gone and we’ll be left living with this for the rest of our lives.”

Cattle sinking in flooded land on the farm of Henry Deacon Snr and Jnr, which they say is due to poor drainage work by BAM.

The Deacons have reached the end of their tether following what they say is a litany of missed deadlines and broken promises.

Two main issues have led to this impasse, the first being the failure of BAM to agree on the construction of a wall to allow safe entrance and egress for livestock to an underpass.

An underpass split in half which Henry Deacon Snr and Jnr are expected to share with their neighbour.

Despite being told they would have their own underpass, BAM has built one underpass with a dividing wall that the construction firm has told them they must share with their neighbour.

As well as being extremely narrow, the Deacons have pointed out that this could lead to major biosecurity issues in the future.

The second issue is an attenuation pond designed to gather the run-off from the roadway.

The pond is collecting clean as well as dirty water, flooding the Deacon’s nearby field.

Relations have been strained between the local farming community and the construction firm BAM for many months, with a major farmer protest in August.

Farmers have cited inconsiderate and high-handed action on the part of BAM over the construction of the new 33km motorway upgrade.

Additional reporting by Hannah Quinn-Mulligan.

Read more

Progress on harvest access around M11 bypass

Farmers blockade motorway builders HQ