Newly appointed Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, has been urged to consider the introduction of a financial support scheme for small-scale food producers who have been significantly impacted by Storm Éowyn.
Fine Gael TD, Joe Cooney, said the market garden sector was among the sector’s worst affected by last week’s storm.
In a written submission to Minister Heydon, the Clare TD said that these food producers engage in a high value low-impact sustainable use of land.
“Much of the sector in Clare is small scale, comprising small plots of land, largely under polytunnels and servicing farmers’ markets and other small retailers,” he said.
“These operations are extremely vulnerable to high winds and Storm Éowyn has decimated many of them, at a critical time in their planting calendar.”
If the polytunnels are not replaced quickly, key planting times will be missed, and a full growing and consequential sales season will be lost, causing huge financial hardship, resulting in many small-scale food producers being forced to close their operations.”
Urgent funds for small-scale producers
The TD has asked the minister to consider as a matter of urgency a financial support scheme to assist these market gardeners in repairing or replacing polytunnels damaged in last week’s storm.
Meanwhile, Deputy Cooney said it had been a trying week for many rural parts of Co Clare that have and, in some cases, continue to experience outages to power, water and telecommunications services.
“The level of disruption wrought by Storm Eowyn is unprecedented in this county,” he said.
“It has been a very trying time for everybody affected, including my own and many other rural communities.
“Once all services have been restored, it is important that a full review of how we can future-proof our energy and water infrastructure from similar events, is undertaken. Right now, we need to focus on getting the entire county back online.”
Deputy Cooney said he had met with homeowners in Boston, Tubber and surrounding areas who have been without power since Friday morning.
“Through my direct contact with the ESB in the Galway maintenance division of which much of this area is situated, power was successfully restored to 36 homes in the area last night with further reconnections expected today and over the weekend,” he said.
The Clare TD expressed his gratitude to the utility workers and contractors who worked around the clock during the most difficult conditions since Storm Éowyn, and who continue to work to restore power, water and telecommunications services.
“I want to acknowledge the fantastic community response that has been evident throughout the county. I want to acknowledge my fellow elected members for their efforts and the local authority for the assistance it is continuing to provide in the form of 5 hubs throughout the county,” he said.