The persistent torrential rain of August is endangering the State's £100 million grain crop.
The Irish Farmers' Association has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to visit grain farms in the south which have been worst affected by heavy rain over the summer and to take specific measures to help growers.
However, Met Eireann is forecasting more wet, unsettled weather running into early next week.
The south got more heavy rain and blustery weather yesterday, with 18mm falling during the day and winds gusting up to 52 mph. The grain harvest should be completed by now, but, instead, up to 2,000 hectares - valued at £100 million, which represents two-thirds of the national crop - have still to be harvested, with little prospect of significant progress this week because of the wet weather. Teagasc, the farm advisory body, said that in the worst conditions for 20 years, farmers were experiencing great difficulty in harvesting their crops. The president of the IFA, Mr John Donnelly, toured grain farms in Co Cork yesterday and called on Mr Walsh to visit the area.
He said three times the normal rainfall for August had fallen - the soil was saturated and combine harvesters and trailers could not get into the fields.
Mr Donnelly said he was seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister who should familiarise himself with conditions in the south especially in Cork, Waterford, Wexford, South Tipperary and Kilkenny. An urgent assessment of the income losses to grain farmers in these and other counties should be carried out.
The IFA believes a package of measures will be required to assist growers, including bringing forward arable aid payments so that they are paid by the end of September. Mr Donnelly said two weeks of dry, sunny weather with good drying conditions was required for crops and soils to dry out and to allow harvesting progress and straw to be baled and drawn in. A major clean-up operation was continuing in parts of north Cork yesterday after torrential rain and flash flooding on Tuesday night which caused an estimated £500,000 worth of damage in the area.
Residents in Freemount - midway between Kanturk and Charleville - were yesterday still cleaning out their homes and premises following the deluge which sent a four-foot-high wall of water flowing through the village.