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The eight farmers of Dursey Island, off Cork’s west coast, say they have been left stranded by Cork County Council (CCC) days before they are due to start lambing their ewes.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mixed beef and sheep farmer Martin Sheehan said he and others are in a “terrible state” over last month's decision by the council to shut the island’s cable car service for eight months from 1 April.
The Cork man, who was born and reared on the island, said there is “no plan in place” to allow residents and farmers gain access and warned that “this is not the way to do business”.
Lambing
Sheehan, who has 10 sucklers and 70 ewes, explained that there are eight farmers on the island and all of them are farming sheep and cattle or one or the other.
He said all of these farmers start lambing from 1 April and many are already calving. He said they face a choice now of staying on the island or risk being stranded on the mainland and unable to care for their stock.
He said “people really don’t get it” when it comes to Dursey, criticising the expectation that island residents and farmers can boat across to the island rather than using the cable car while it is being repaired.
“You could count on one hand the number of days during the year where you could tie a boat at the island. Your boat will be gone. The next stop is America. We’ll be stranded in Dursey.”
Losses
Fellow farmer on the island Gerard Murphy, who has 100 ewes to lamb next month, said there are “going to be losses” due to his inability to be there.
He said the cable car decision will have a major impact on animal welfare and said the Department of Agriculture would be “all over farmers” another time if there were animals “left dead in the field”.
Murphy said Cork politicians, including an Taoiseach Micheál Martin, are “doing nothing about it”, while Sheehan said there has been no oversight of the decision by CCC.
Sheehan said the “clock was ticking” on the cable car issue for years and the council should have made a choice to “maintain it properly” instead of getting to a point now where it will be out of service.
The farmers noted that local Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan has been “pushing” the issue with Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys in a bid to find a solution for the Dursey Island community.
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