Fears veg prices could rise in wake of Storm Éowyn damage
Vegetable growers have pleaded for Government support after warning that in some cases Storm Éowyn wiped out almost 80pc of their early harvest crops.
The Irish Farmers Association, Organic Growers of Ireland and Teagasc have been trying to quantify the sheer scale of damage inflicted by Storm Éowyn - and now estimate that growers are facing damage through polytunnel and glasshouse destruction allied to early crop losses amounting to around €4.5m.
Such is the scale of the damage suffered by some growers that they warned they cannot continue to operate without Government aid.
There are also mounting fears that with up to 80pc of some growers' crops wiped out by the storm, Irish consumers could be hit by rising prices on supermarket shelves for specific vegetables.
Particularly severe damage was caused to many polytunnel-based crops across Munster Connacht and parts of Ulster - while outdoor crops including leeks and cauliflowers were also badly hit.
Paudie Hanafin operates a vegetable operation outside Tralee and admitted he couldn't believe the scale of the damage.
He warned that around 80pc of his winter cauliflower crops was destroyed by Storm Éowyn.
"If I grow crops, I get a bill for seed, I get a bill for propagating costs and it is a huge commitment," he told Radio Kerry.
"If I don't get a bit of help on this one I don't think I will go ahead with it."
"I am 25 years at this - I have a lot of land rented and I have land bought. I have a lot of machines which are no good to any other farmer in the country, only the horticulture sector."
"Now they are saying that fertiliser could go up. My seed (prices) have gone up, my labour costs have gone up, my packaging costs have gone up."
"Propagation costs have gone up - then prices are bad."
"The Storm Éowyn hits and you say: 'What is this all about?' We urgently need help on this one."
Other growers warned that the entire Irish horticulture sector is now in crisis.
Farm groups met with the Department of Agriculture on February 11 to discuss the impact of the storm on the horticulture growers and to examine what support may be available.
Ireland is already awaiting an EU assessment on storm aid support.
Storm Éowyn ranks as the most destructive winter storm in modern Irish history and set new wind records with 183kmh recorded off Mace Head in Galway.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, over 760,000 people were left without power.
Despite a massive repair campaign by ESB Networks including the deployment of repair crews from the UK, Austria, France, Finland and Germany, it took three weeks to reconnect every farm, business and household nationwide.
Over 300,000 people lost water supplies or had water supplies interrupted or had reduced water pressure because of the storm damage.
Insurance officials admitted that the overall cost of Storm Éowyn damage could now exceed €250m - almost four times the scale of damage inflicted by the previous worst modern storm, Ophelia, in 2017.
Reporting on:independent.ie