Sligo/Leitrim Deputy Marian Harkin is welcoming an assurance from Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue that farmers affected by the Shass mountain landslide almost a year ago can still apply for basic payments under CAP.
The usual criteria to apply for the schemes involves farmers declaring that their land was in good agricultural condition, but Deputy Harkin says that farmers with thousands of tonnes of peat dumped on their land obviously couldn't say that.
Speaking in the Dail last night , the Independent TD asked the minister if farmers could claim for the payments using a "force majeure" clause and that there would be no penalties.
Deputy Harkin says she was very happy to get the assurance from the Minister which will ease the concerns of many landowners in the region.
