Devastating Storm Éowyn leaves Longford Forestry farmer distraught

Longford farmer Michael Lennon was distraught when he realised that between half and three-quarters of his near-100 acres forestry plantation had been damaged by Storm Éowyn, but the IFA representative is now focused on getting vital Government support for plot owners.

Michael's trees, which were planted in 1996 at Crowdrummin near his home in Drumlish, were due to mature in five years time, and he had plans in place to use it as a pension pot for his retirement.

The former Teagasc advisor has been unable to access his forestry and survey the full damage due to safety concerns but he has lost "thousands" and he said many others are in a worse situation.

"There are a lot of people I know who have no jobs and they are depending on forestry when they have felled the timber as a pension," he added.

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The married father of five and grandfather said he was contacted by Senator Paraic Brady the day after the storm and told that his trees were down and they were blocking on the road.

Michael, who is the Longford IFA forestry representative, said, "I was in horrid bad form after that for a few weeks, I was feeling very depressed but I'm over that now."

He attended an IFA forestry meeting in Dublin last Tuesday and he proposed a motion that the Government should subsidise losses farmers are incurring due to the plummeting price of timber.

"From the meeting it's unreal, the price of timber has dropped enormously because there is so much timber coming into the factories," he added.

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Michael said there is significant damage in county Longford and once your forest is clear felled there is a legal obligation to replant.

"For anybody who has a clear felled site forestry, who has cut the forestry out completely, you have to replant that at your own cost and that is €1,500 to €2,000 per acre," he added.

Michael has called on the Government to cover the cost of replanting trees in decimated plots to support farmers in the region and across the country.

The IFA representative estimates that between half and three-quarters of his forestry is damaged and he will know the full extent of his losses when all of his forestry is surveyed.

He planted his trees in 1996 and they were due to reach maturity in five or six years time and previously he had been covered by insurance.

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"I didn't know if I was covered and "I phoned up [the company] and I was told if it was 15 years I would have been covered but they said once your forestry is over 20 years it's not covered," he added.

Michael believes the Government should be doing more to support hard-pressed forestry owners who had their trees damaged.

"There is no question about it, they should, but there are people worse off than me in some respects," he added.

"I'm lucky enough I have roads going into my forestry since 2019, but I know people who have no roads going in and they have to try and get the timber out."

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Michael said representations are being made to Forestry and Horticulture Junior Minister Michael Healy-Rae.

"It is up to us to go to our own TDs and senators and for them to lobby the minister and put pressure on the Government," he added.

Michael hopes to meet local Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy, Senator Paraic Brady and Fianna Fáil Senator Joe Flaherty over the coming days.

Speaking in the Seanad Senator Brady, who stated every forest needs a licence, asked that they would seek that Minister Healy-Rae "would fast track these licences" and that the "forestry companies would try to give a fair price" to forestry owners.

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Senator Flaherty, who was on the agriculture committee in the last government highlighted the challenges for people who had invested in forestry and were trying to get licences.

The Fianna Fáil representative said if the sector was in crisis, it has now plunged into a deeper one.

Senator Flaherty called for Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon to come to the Seanad to discuss what emergency powers they will give to the agriculture sector to ‘safeguard the people who made those investments so that prices do not plummet and they are not taken advantage of by producers’.