IFA Deputy President, Brian Rushe, has slammed the Department of Agriculture following revelations that inspections have been carried out in recent days on farmers who are battling floodwaters on the shoreline of Lough Funshinagh in Rahara.
The Deputy President said: “It is incredible that we have one arm of the State (Roscommon County Council) doing their best to help the farming community in dire circumstances by raising roads and pumping water away from sheds and homes, while another arm of the state is counting sheep and inspecting the same farms”.
The IFA Deputy President added that the farming community in the area are already under heightened stress and exhaustion while dealing with rising water levels threatening their homes and property.
He said that “a common-sense approach is needed here by the Department of Agriculture, until some semblance of normality has returned to the area”.
“It is important that farmers are aware that under agreed Covid-19 protocols between the Department and farm organisations, a farmer has the right to defer an inspection for three weeks,” he concluded.
