External sources blamed for unexplained farm problems
At the same time some farmers have been plagued by serious environmental problems causing huge loss of income, which they maintained came from outside their farms.
Farmers in Co Limerick and Co Kilkenny were forced to take these complaints to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee in an effort to get recognition for their plight.
Now, a damning report has criticised how these farmers have been treated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
Petitions Committee members who inspected the farm of Dan Brennan at Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny said the problems there could not have been caused by sources within the farm.
They also visited Askeaton, Co Limerick, where several farms had unexplained problems since the early 1990s, and a €4m multi-agency investigation could find no explanation for mysterious livestock deaths and illness, burning of vegetation, and some human illness.
Now that the EU representatives say these farms’ problems were caused by external sources, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture should re-visit both areas and attempt to regain the confidence of the affected farmers, and carry out new investigations.
