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A Mayo councillor has claimed that he has been inundated with calls from farmers who are struggling to meet the slurry spreading deadline.
Aontú’s Cllr Paul Lawless is calling for an extension to the deadline well into October as a matter of urgency.
The closed period for slurry application this autumn commences on Tuesday 1 October.
Cllr Lawless said the agricultural sector are working to a standstill to try to meet the current cut-off point.
“Farmers and agricultural contractors are in an absolute tailspin given the dreadful summer we had. The fields around Mayo and the west in general were sodden and only improved recently."
Extension
He said he is writing a letter to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to seek an extension.
“I have been inundated with calls from contractors, many of whom are doing 20 hours a day trying to get slurry out before deadline.
"They are trying to do two months’ work in two weeks. They need to get the tanks emptied, but it’s absolutely impossible for them,” added Lawless.
“Usually, they’d get slurry out in the spring or summer, but this summer truly bucked that trend with more rain than sun.”
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