Can farming survive the impacts of climate change?

EDITOR – A recent RTÉ Ear to the Ground programme was difficult viewing for farmers.

It showed two Wexford tillage farmers, one with a 50-acre field of a barley crop, and another with a 120-acre field of spring barley. Both fields of barley where unharvested and were mostly submerged in water. Both farmers had abandoned all hope of harvesting their crops, which was totally devastating to watch.

While the Department of Agriculture payment of €1,000 per hectare for the first 20 hectares will go some way to reducing a small portion of their losses, both farmers were unable to say if they would ever again be able to grow grain crops in the future.

For those of us who served our time in farming, the most troubling aspect is the fact that this happened in the ‘sunny south-east’ which used to be considered the grain basket of Ireland for growing grain crops. It now seems that this noble title might well be a thing of the past due to climate change.

It’s also crystal clear that the climate experts who predicted storms and extreme rainfall for all of Ireland were 100% correct.

This will have a future negative effect on all forms of farming, including dairying, livestock and tillage and will increase cost of production through increased meal feeding and longer housing periods.

In addition to extreme rainfall, the management of rivers and streams is a crucial factor in analysing why some of our fields end up submerged in water. This will require local authorities, the OPW, Inland Fisheries, and Parks and Wildlife to start singing from the same hymn sheet. It should also necessitate a review of some of the environmental regulations that were implemented long before climate change was known about.

I am personally aware of one instance where a local authority stopped remedial work to a river, claiming it would disturb a colony of bats roosting close by.

Unfortunately, this type of response is preventing anti-flood measures being implemented.

With the advent of climate change, it’s important that the above State agencies fully realise that they now have a new role. Regulations should be set aside to allow essential dredging take place. At the end of the day farming is about food production that’s essential to feed an ever-growing global population.

Diarmuid Cohalan,
Ballinhassig.

A special message from Santa and Rudolph

EDITOR – Season’s Greetings to everyone from the North Pole!

Letters are pouring in from all around the world so I would like to remind all the boys and girls in Ireland to write and post their letters to me as soon as possible. I especially enjoy the colourful pictures they draw of Rudolph and me. The elves are busy making sure all the toys are ready in time for Christmas. They’re adding some magical elf dust to ensure all the toys are just right.

This is what the boys and girls should do:

• Write their letter to me straight away.
• Put it in an envelope, seal it and address it to ‘Santa Claus, The NorthPole’.
• Write their own name and full postal address (in very clear handwriting) on the top left-hand corner of the front of the envelope.
• Stick a €1.35 stamp on the top right-hand corner.
•Post it in a green An Post post box – that’s important! It’s that easy!

My friends in An Post are helping me to reply to as many children’s letters as possible. I hope you all have a happy and peaceful Christmas. PS Rudolph is looking forward to all the treats children leave out for him on Christmas Eve!

Santa Claus,
The North Pole.

We need to think about our water resources

EDITOR – The environment has become more of a regular news topic over the past few years.

More frequent extreme weather events and food shortages are just a short example of environmental related issues facing us now and into the future. An even more serious environmental problem is simmering under the radar, and in my opinion is a catastrophe in the making, and that is the sheer neglect and continuing over-abstraction of our natural water sources for both commercial and domestic use.

With the ever-increasing urbanisation and populations of our cities and towns, our rivers and lakes are struggling with the demand. How could this be? Ireland is one of the wettest countries in the world!

This is a common argument amongst the Irish public. My knowledge of water sources comes from being a water services employee of a local authority based in the south west of Ireland. My role within the local authority is to operate numerous drinking water and wastewater treatment plants and operating the water networks.

I honestly think through better public understanding of our water sources, we as a nation can reverse the centuries of neglect and improve the water supply for future generations.

David Carroll,
Crookstown.

Sinn Féin have rewritten their own history

EDITOR – The letter from Helen Breathnach deserves a response.

Yes, FG and FF were originally part of Sinn Féin, but split from them on irreconcilable differences on the Treaty and on participating in the democratic process in the early years of the State.

Labour was always independent and Democratic Left merged with them after leaving the Workers Party. The Workers Party abandoned the name of SF in their title, fundamentally disagreeing with the violence in the North. You separate when you no longer accept basic principles.

Furthermore, Arthur Griffith founded SF in 1905. The current SF party has written him out of the history books because he supported the Treaty and was a key figure in Cumann na nGaedheal.

As an aside, SF played no part whatsoever in the 1916 rebellion, although they would now try to have us believe differently. You cannot re-write history. Facts matter.

Eamonn Kirwan,
Innishannon.