Written by Rachel Martin
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has been urged to widen the criteria of a support package for farmers afflicted by the 2017 floods to include farmers who did not fill out Force Majeure applications at the time.
Details have emerged of a long-awaited support package for farmers in the North West affected by floods in 2017. The £3.45 million support scheme will open for applications in August 2021.
However, the criteria has been met with concern, as only farmers who made a Force Majeure application at the time will be eligible.
The North West floods, which took place on August 22, 2017, during Storm Lorenzo, were described by Met Éireann as a “once in a 100-year event”.
It saw livestock washed away, farmland buried under feet of silt and debris, and fences destroyed across the Glenelley and Owenkillew valleys.
At the time farmers in the Republic of Ireland were offered up to €15,000 of support. Whereas farmers on this side of the Foyle received nothing. Around nine months later a £500,000 scheme to support riparian fencing in the catchment area was opened but no compensation was offered for damage to land or other property.
‘Criteria needs to be widened’
Agriculture Committee chairman Declan McAleer first raised the issue with Minister Poots in April and explained there were many reasons why farmers adversely affected may not have filled out the forms. McAleer also highlighted instances where insurers had not covered the cost of other damages, such as the loss of livestock.
“This is very welcome and overdue as the farmers impacted by Storm Lorenzo in 2017 have been carrying this huge burden for the past four years,” McAleer said.
“However, in welcoming this, I do have a number of concerns which I have written to the Minister about on a number of occasions sice he announced the scheme in April.
“For instance, the Minister states that payments will only be made to farmers who submitted a Force Majeure application in 2017. I know farmers who had their businesses damaged by the storm but who did not submit a Force Majeure application.
“The fact that copious assessments of the damage were already carried out by by DAERA, LPS and other bodies, I do not believe that submission of a Force Majeure application should be the only criteria for being considered for this scheme.
“Additionally, in the minister’s reply to me, he stated that losses of livestock and equipment can be insured. However, I am aware of a number of farmers who had equipment and bales destroyed in this storm but their insurance did not cover these losses.
“While the scheme is very welcome, and will undoubtedly help compensate the majority of impacted farmers with the losses they endured, I believe that the department should give careful consideration to ensuring that all impacted farm businesses will be eligible for compensation.”
Commenting on why the support package has only been confirmed now, four years on, a department spokesperson said: “Following the flooding incident in August 2017, officials were unable to develop a robust economic case to provide a compensation scheme for farmers. It was concluded that a Ministerial Direction would be needed for the department to develop and deliver a scheme.
“The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended from January 2017 until January 2020. The DAERA Permanent Secretary did not have the power to intervene in the absence of a minister.”
The scheme will open for applications in August 2021, with eligible farm businesses invited to apply using an online form.
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