The Department of Agriculture has questions to answer on the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme, which is ‘a mess’, Sinn Féin TD and party spokesperson on Agriculture Claire Kerrane has said.

Kerrane claims that the Department moved to deliberately limit the number of farmers who could access compensation.

"There are serious questions to be answered, primarily the fact that overnight this scheme went from the Shannon Callows Flood Scheme to the Shannon Callows Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Flood Scheme," she said.

Other issues have been flagged by elected representatives and by the Save our Shannon Organisation repeatedly and have gone unaddressed, she said, adding that this cannot continue.

"I have previously raised those farmers with lands affected by flooding of the Suck and Little Brosna River who are locked out of this scheme. That is wrong.

Applications

"I brought the flaws of this scheme to the floor of the Dáil last month to be debated. The minister confirmed then that as of January 19, 268 of the 277 (97%) applications have been processed and paid in respect of €736,398 on a total of 2,266ha.

"The Department's own analysis estimates that approximately 2,500ha of grassland were impacted by flooding," she said.

Kerrane went on to say how there are question marks over the Department's monitoring system as many farmers who have been flooded have not been offered compensation.

"I have heard from farmers where one side of the drain, compensation has been offered and the other farmer, on the other side of the drain, flooded no different has been offered nothing.

"Flaws identified in this scheme need to be fixed and farmers whose lands have been flooded need to be supported. They have suffered enough," she concluded.