Farmers call for urgency on landslide damage report

Call for urgency on landslide damage report


Anton McNulty

THE IFA have called on government agencies assessing the damage caused by the recent landslide along the Nephin range to complete their work in order for farmers to repair damage to their farms. Rainfall that normally occurs once in every 150 years fell on July 2 causing flooding and landslides in parts of west and south Mayo resulting in roads and bridges being destroyed and many roads being blocked. Farmers along the affected areas cannot deal with the damage to their farms until damage assessment reports have been completed by different state agencies.
Martin Gavin, Chairman of Mayo IFA, called on these agencies to complete their reports to co-ordinate the clean-up project so farmers can carry out the repairs to their lands before the weather gets worse. He said it was time that these agencies took charge of the situation and that farmers were getting annoyed with the slow progress.
“The current situation is that we are waiting for reports which should have been done by now,” he told The Mayo News. “There are a couple of different agencies involved - the fisheries, the OPW, the Parks and Wildlife Services and the Council - and we are waiting for them to compile their reports on the damage, so farmers can go in and do the work. TDs and councillors have been told that they can’t do the work until Peter Hynes (Director of Services with Mayo County Council) comes back from holidays. If that is the situation I don’t know how they can justify their jobs.
“A report should not take this long and it is time they got cracking. We can’t take it any further, it is up to them and if they are not prepared to act, we will go in and do the work. However, we don’t want to do that at the moment,” he said.
Mr Gavin said the flood damage had come on top of a very difficult year for farmers, especially along the western seaboard. Many farmers were wondering if anybody cared for their plight.