Sinn Féin TD for Roscommon/Galway and party spokesperson on Agriculture Claire Kerrane has said that the Department of Agriculture have questions to answer on the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme, which she described as ‘a mess’.
 
Speaking this afternoon, Teachta Kerrane said:
 
“At our Agriculture Committee meeting yesterday, I raised the need for questions to be answered on the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme. My constituency colleague Michael Fitzmaurice backed this call and it was agreed by Committee that Department officials over the Scheme would be asked to come before our Committee to answer questions. This cannot happen quick enough.
 
“There are serious questions to be answered, primarily the fact that overnight this Scheme went from the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme to the Shannon Callows Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Flood Scheme. I think this is a deliberate move to limit the number of Farmers who can access this much needed compensation.
 
“Other issues have been flagged by elected representatives and by the Save our Shannon Organisation repeatedly and have gone unaddressed. This cannot continue.
 
“I have previously raised those Farmers with lands affected by flooding of the Suck and Little Brosna River who are locked out of this Scheme. That is wrong.
 
“I brought the flaws of this Scheme to the floor of the Dáil last month to be debated. The Minister confirmed then that as of January 19th, 268 of the 277 (97%) applications have been processed and paid in respect of €736,398 on a total of 2,266 hectares.
 
“The Department’s own analysis estimates that approximately 2,500 hectares of grassland were impacted by flooding however, there are question marks over their Monitoring System as many Farmers who have been flooded have not been offered compensation.
 
“I have heard from Farmers where one side of the drain, compensation has been offered and the other Farmer, on the other side of the drain, flooded no different has been offered nothing.
 
“Flaws identified in this Scheme need to be fixed and Farmers whose lands have been flooded need to be supported. They have suffered enough.”