Minister asked to include additional farmers in Shannon Callows scheme

The plight of farmers in certain areas along the Shannon Callows who have not been included in the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme has been highlighted by an Independent TD for Tipperary.

Deputy Michael Lowry said there are farmers along the Shannon Callows in Redwood, Ballyea and Ballymacegan, areas of Co. Tipperary whose land was “greatly impacted by flooding”.

However he said these farmers have not been included in the flood scheme.

The €800,000 scheme was launched by Government last year to support farmers who had lost fodder due to flooding in the Shannon Callows.

The scheme aimed to support farmers who had “been prevented from conserving sufficient fodder – silage or hay – for the 2023/2024 winter due to exceptional flooding”.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) eligible agricultural land in the Shannon Callows impacted by “exceptional flooding events” between July 2, 2023 and September 29, 2023 were identified by DAFM’s Area Monitoring System (AMS).

“For an applicant to be eligible for this scheme, they must be actively farming these parcels and have declared them in their 2023 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application,” DAFM outlined.

Shannon Callows

But Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in a parliamentary question, if he was “taking steps” to address what he described as the “oversight” of certain farmers along the Shannon Callows who had been left out of the scheme.

In response Minister Charlie McConalogue said there were some farmers with Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) parcels in Ballymacegan and Redwood, Co. Tipperary which had met the eligibility criteria for the scheme and had received payment.

Minister McConalogue added: “There are however other farmers within the area who did not receive payment as either the parcels were not detected as being flooded or where they were detected as flooded, they did not meet the minimum of six flood occurrences over the course of the 30 occurrences between July 2, 2023 and September 29, 2023.