The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said that farmers who feel their land should have been included in the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme (SCFS) can apply for a review.
The €800,000 scheme was announced by government to support farmers who had lost fodder due to severe flooding in the Shannon Callows.
Thousands of acres of silage and hay in the region were destroyed and left unsalvageable as a result of the flood water.
Under the scheme, payments will be made at a rate of €325/ha for farmers affected by fodder loss on a minimum of 1ha and a maximum of 15ha.
Shannon Callows
Farmers were only eligible for the SCFS once they had received an expression of interest form sent from the department.
A spokesperson for DAFM confirmed to Agriland that it contacted 230 farmers in the Shannon Callows who they deemed to have lost fodder as a result of the exceptional flooding in summer 2023.
208 of those farmers signed and submitted their expression of interest form by the deadline of midnight on November 27, 2023.
This deadline was extended until Monday (December 4) for the 16 farmers who had yet to apply for support.
The department said that it would also attempt to contact these farmers by phone.
“There are no reported IT issues for the 230 impacted farmers that were issued with a letter.
“Indeed 214 have already returned the completed application form and payments will issue in the coming weeks,” a DAFM spokesperson said.
However, concerns were raised by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) that not all farmers who had been impacted by the flooding had been contacted by the department.
In response, DAFM told Agriland that “farmers can submit a request for review, if they so wish”.
“This should include details of the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) parcel(s) they believe should be included and should be directed to [email protected],” the spokesperson said.