Farm groups urge local authorities to co-operate over gritting of roads
The ICMSA dairy chairman, Pat McCormack, has asked co-ops and processors to make allowances for the problems around freezing and storage being experienced by many farmers in the worst affected areas.
Mr McCormack said: “It is important that trucks make determined efforts to get up to farms, and that they liaise closely with individual farmers and local authorities so that milk is collected where that is at all possible.
“Local authorities must attach priority to clearing those rural roads necessary for key farming and commercial activity and ICMSA and farmers would gladly help in this regard.”
Some controversy has surrounded the refusal of local authorities to collaborate with the farm groups on the spreading of salt and grit on rural roads.
The farm groups have offered to use their own machinery, but the offer was rejected in a number of rural locations.
IFA president John Bryan said there is a pressing need for a more co-ordinated and pro-active approach by local authorities in securing the assistance of local farmers and community members to treat secondary roads.
He said the effects of the prolonged cold spell demand a radical re-think on how a collaborative approach by the local authorities, farmers and the local community could deal more effectively with the adverse weather.
Meanwhile, the chairman of West Cork IFA David O’Brien last night acknowledged the decision by Cork County Council to make salt and gritting material available to farmers and local communities.
“The IFA will help in identifying those areas where the material is most needed to ensure that the network of rural roads can be made safer to travel, and will co-operate with the county council in implementing this.”
He added the decision of Cork County Council was a victory for common sense and will be welcomed by rural communities in West Cork.
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