OPW flood risk plan ignores farmers - IFA warns

FEARS of winter floods continue to rise as the IFA claim the newly published draft flood risk management plans “ignores” the plight of struggling farmers.

Last month, the Farming Independent revealed that water levels along the Shannon Callows - downstream from Athlone to Portumna - are almost 16 inches higher than July 2015.

The figures from the ESB show that water levels at Lough Ree are almost a foot higher. Locals have said protests will continue unless immediate action is taken.

Although draft plans are in the final stage of public consultation under the Catchment Flood Risk and Management Programme (CFRAM), the IFA warn that farmers and rural dwellers living in swell water blackspots remain at risk.

At a recent meeting in Longford with Independent TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, who will assume responsibility for the OPW from current Minister Sean Canney during 2017, Padraig Joyce, local IFA representative, made clear that farmers are “being ignored at the expense of specific towns and villages”.

Mr Joyce also stressed that proposed works are under threat due to objections from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

“It is up to the Government to ensure that the public good overrides all other considerations,” he said.

“The protection of households, farmland and businesses must be to the forefront of all works,” he added.

The IFA also raised the serious concerns for farmers still affected by turloughs flooding in Roscommon and Longford. The organisation claims that the draft report also “falls spectacularly short” of providing a proposal for a single agency to manage the river.

“Farmers are worried that eight months on from the serious floods of last winter, very little work has taken place under the OPW’s minor works scheme,” he said.