I’m finished as a dairy farmer, says Aylward as road splits land

BEING the brother of an MEP and former junior agriculture minister means nothing when it comes to progress and road plans.

Bobby Aylward, brother of sitting TD Liam Aylward, says his 35-acre dairy farm close to the edge of Waterford city at Knockmoylan, Mullinavat, will be rendered useless by the new Waterford to Kilcullen road which is about to be developed.

The 49-year-old councillor and former chairman of both the South East Regional Authority and county council says while the road will be a major inconvenience, he won’t be objecting to it.

“A big bulk of land will be taken off me. My land is fragmented into four lots. I’m dairying on 35 acres and the road will take six acres from me. It will split the farm in two.

“In reality, I’m finished as a dairy farmer. I won’t be able to move my herd from fields to the parlour twice a day, as I’ve been doing for years. The road will cut off an entire section of my farm.

“I’m not against the road. I’ve been one of the many calling for it for years. But it’s having a serious impact on my farm and my livelihood. I’ll have to examine whether to go into dry stock or what to do for the future.”

Mr Aylward had hoped that one of his two sons, or his daughter would go into dairy farming. The holding has been a dairy farm for generations. He milked cows there by hand from the age of six and began farming when his father died in 1974.

“The only hope now is to go into suckler herding. The farm will just be too fragmented to dairy. The only part of this farm which was ever taken away from dairying was a site for my son. Nobody around here sells land and no money or compensation will ever make up for the loss.”

Another farmer, Tom Beegan will lose some land too from his property in Clara, Co Kilkenny. He says nobody can stand in the way of progress.

“We fought this fight many months ago but the road decision was made and it’s going ahead.

“In the interest of progress this is what our community is going to offer up to the greater benefit of the Irish situation in terms of progress.”