90 Callows farmers overlooked by flooding compensation scheme

90 farmers in the Shannon Callows have been overlooked in the ongoing flooding compensation scheme, according to Save Our Shannon Organisation (SOSO).
“The Department for Agriculture has told us,” said Secretary of SOSO Liam Broderick, “that they are currently in the process of compensating 230 farmers in the Callows. We have handed them a list of another 90 farmers and said they should be compensated as well. Deputy Barry Cowen has promised to pursue this. If they are compensated then the number will go up to 320. We estimate that about 400 farmers in the Callows were adversely affected by last Summer's flooding.”
In December and January, SOSO recorded drone footage of Callows land under flood. The organisation said this film footage will give the Department an idea of the extent of the flooding last summer and the number of farmers and landowners affected. They say the flooding levels in December / January were similar to the levels in July / August. “We handed the drone footage into the Department of Agriculture in Portlaoise a few weeks ago,” the Secretary said.
Under the compensation scheme each farmer is given €325 per hectare for a total of 15 hectares. Each individual farmer cannot receive more than €4,875 in total. Using satellite imagery the government decides whether the farmers are entitled to the money or not. The money is for those farmers whose land was flooded between July 2, 2023 and September 29, 2023. During a public meeting in Shannonbridge on January 15, members of SOSO criticised the accuracy and fairness of the satellite imagery system. They also pointed out that the bureaucracy is onerous and the Department is frequently unsympathetic to their cause. One farmer said he lost hundreds of bales of fodder. He called the Scheme “scandalous”. He said losing so much fodder means you have to adjust your stock numbers. “When I rang the Department,” commented another, “the woman answering the phone said the eye in the sky didn't pick up water on my land. I told her my fields were amongst the first to be flooded, but she wouldn't listen.”
The Department of Agriculture says the “Shannon Callows Flood Scheme” (SCFS) is to “support farmers with affected land in the Shannon Callows that has prevented some farmers from conserving sufficient fodder (silage and / or hay) for the 2023 / 24 winter due to exceptional flooding of the Shannon Callows in the summer of 2023.”
The Department sent out “expressions of interest” letters to the impacted farmers to apply for the scheme that the “Area Monitoring System (AMS) has identified as having been impacted by exceptional flooding.”
Those farmers which received an Expression of Interest from SCFS had to reply by the 27th of November. The Department said only grassland parcels suitable and available for harvesting hay and or silage before September 29 last, “declared on your BISS 2023 (Basic Income Support for Sustainability) and having been identified as having been affected by flooding by the Department's Area Monitoring System will be eligible.”
The SCFS was announced by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue in early November, who said there was a budget of €800,000 for the one-off package. The Minister also confirmed that a “small number” of land parcels along the River Suck and the Little Brosna River that are located within the Shannon Callows were eligible for payment. The Minister said he was “acutely aware of the hardship that exceptional rainfall during the summer has had on farmers around the country.”
SOSO also points out that the flooding issue affects tourists as well. They point out that last August the flooding was so bad that five holiday cruisers were stranded between Athlone and Clonmacnoise. “The land was unusable for hay, haylage or grazing,” said the Secretary, “and the tourists could not see the banks of the river. Hence five boats ran aground.”
The Secretary outlined some of the contents of the video / drone footage which SOSO handed in to the Department of Agriculture. “It contains footage by a farmer in Clonfert, Jimmy Nevin, walking through flooded fields (300 metres from the river), showing water halfway up his wellingtons and grass two to three foot high. Jimmy's footage highlights the Department's difficulty in seeing the full extent of the flood waters using its eye in the sky.
“We also wrote to the Minister for Agriculture and the Department asking if they sent a Department official to view the floods in person instead of relying on a satellite / eye in the sky. We received no reply.
"SOSO and the farmers are thankful for the scheme. It was stated originally that the scheme was announced to compensate farmers in the Shannon Callows who had lost fodder due to continuous summer flooding. We are asking that all the farmers affected be contacted and compensated for the full amount of hectares covered in flood waters (up to the limit of 15 hectares). In other words, we are asking the Department to do what they said they would do."