
ICMSA call for farm inspections to be suspended for a week – “massive amount of physical damage caused by Storm Eowyn”
The Deputy President of ICMSA, Eamon Carroll, has asked that farm inspections be suspended for at least a week as large swathes of the country recover and repair the massive amount of physical damage caused by Storm Eowyn. Mr. Carroll said that the last thing that farmers left reeling from damaged sheds, blocked roads and downed trees is an inspection by the Department or local authorities. He said that farmers would be stressed and anxious enough – particularly as calving was now underway – and that it would be grossly unfair and harsh to inspect and judge farms in the immediate aftermath of a generational storm like the one experienced last Thursday night/Friday morning.
“To be honest, we shouldn’t have to even ask for this. But we do think that an official announcement by the Department and the other relevant inspecting bodies that they will suspend inspections for the next week and then after that, make allowances for the damage caused by ‘Eowyn’ and the extra workload that widespread loss of power is causing, is the very minimum that we should expect. There’s great deal of stress and anxiety out there in areas of the country now and we should be trying to alleviate that and give the affected farmers a few days to see where they are and what needs to be done first”, said Mr. Carroll.
“We think that Minister Heydon would welcome this first opportunity to show farmers that he understands the nature of the particular problems that can be caused on farms by really extreme weather events, and he’ll see that farmers will need this ‘grace period’ to get their farms back in order and ready for inspections. Going forward, a lot of the repair work cannot be done overnight and farmers like everyone else will have to wait in line for the appropriate trades people to carry out repairs. ICMSA thinks that where a farmer can show that he or she was proactive in getting repairs done, no penalty should apply for issues arising from recent weather event”, concluded the ICMSA Deputy President.
Ends 27 January 2025
Eamon Carroll, 087-6312945
Deputy President, ICMSA.
Or
Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758
ICMSA Press Office
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