Irwin urges financial support extension to flooded farms

Mr Irwin said: “The package of support for local retail businesses in my own locality in Newry & Portadown, is of course very much welcomed and will be of some assistance to those who have suffered losses to stock and damage to their shops and buildings and it is only but right and proper that the government recognised this and moved forward with a support scheme in those circumstances.

“In my firm opinion there is an equally important need to ensure that farmers who experienced severe disruption and loss of produce are also fairly recognised by a financial support scheme. I am aware for instance of a hard working family loosing an entire house of chickens, running in to a loss of thousands of birds due to the poultry house being flooded. One can imagine the time, resources and effort that has went in to rearing birds only for them to be lost in this fashion.

“Farmers have lost crops of potatoes and indeed seen expensive seed sown washed away and ground preparations undone due to severe flooding and this all represents a significant financial loss. I have spoken to farmers in this situation and their message is clear, they feel they are being disenfranchised by the lack of access to the financial assistance schemes and there is a clear need for a widening of the support.”

He concluded: “I would urge the government to recognise this loss within the agri-food sector and move quickly to enact a scheme that would see farmers given access to similar support as local retail businesses have been able to avail of.”