Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 March 2014
195. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if grant aid will be made available to farmers who have had uninsured working farm buildings damaged in recent storms thus affecting their ability to earn an income. [11388/14]
View answerThere are no plans to introduce a specific compensation scheme for those farmers who suffered damage to their buildings or equipment as a result of the recent storms. In certain cases, however, such farmers may be able to apply for grant-aid under the on-farm investment schemes which will be introduced by my Department following the receipt of EU Commission approval for the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme. It is not possible to introduce a compensation scheme for all unforeseen events and I would urge farmers to familiarise themselves with insurance to cover all risk management issues such as injury, theft, weather related disasters and animal diseases.
