A farmer, who owns land on Killery Mountain, says that he may be forced to look for other work if he doesnt receive his basic payment soon.
Fires on Killery mountain on the Sligo Leitrim border spread out of control during a dry spell last May causing the destruction of hundreds of acres of land.
In the aftermath, 33 farmers were notified by the Department of Agriculture that their Basic Payment would be reduced. They are awaiting the outcome of an appeal against this.
Now while some farmers have received a reduced payment, Mike Gaffney still hasn’t received one cent, and he says over one year later, he is now struggling to survive:
Meanwhile, Farmers in Sligo may withdraw access to walkways on their lands to protect them from gorse fires.
Some farmers in the Killery Mountain area have already erected signs recently saying “access to all mountain pathways will be withdrawn due to illegal burning”.
Mike Gaffney farms land on the mountain, while his land is still open to walkers, he says he understands were some farmers are coming from:
And you can hear more on that interview on Agri-Week tonight at 9pm.
