Bad weather hits farming and tourism

AN extremely wet month of July came to an end on Tuesday, itself a torrentially wet day, and the terrible summer is having a severe impact on local farming and tourism interests.

 

Statistics released by Met Éireann on Wednesday showed the amount of rainfall for the month of July was 71% above average at the weather station in Shannon. At the same time, there was only 82% of the average amount of sunshine and the mean temperature for the month was 1.4oC below normal at 14.9oC.

Shannon was hardly alone in experiencing bad weather, as every other weather station across the country saw above average rainfall.

Andrew Dundas, chairman of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) in Clare, said the weather throughout the summer has had a serious impact and could have implications in the months to come.

“The weather broke at just the wrong time for the first cut of silage. Even contractors will tell you that. They just got no chance, the crops weren’t there. They were a bit late this year. Normally people would be cutting in May but there was very little cut in May this year because there was poor growth.

“If it doesn’t pick up soon I think there will be a fodder crisis. If you go back to the late ’90s there was a fodder crisis but that time it was just the western half. There was plenty of fodder in the country. Fodder came from Wexford to Clare that time but this year it’s countrywide. Speaking to people up the country as well, they’re having severe difficulty getting silage done,” Mr Dundas said.

He said the situation is putting farmers under a lot of pressure. “I’m speaking to people who haven’t even a first cut done yet. You’d have a lot of people who’d maybe just do one cut of silage around the end of June and they’ve nothing done because the ground was very wet at that stage. They’re in a bad situation.”

Michael Vaughan is president of the Irish Hotels Federation and operates the Vaughan Lodge in Lahinch. He said the summer has been terrible to date and it is having a noticeable impact on tourism destinations in West and North Clare.

“I’d have to say it has affected things pretty badly up and down the coast. The seaside resorts in Clare have been badly affected. The first two weeks in July were the worst two weeks I’ve had in trading since I started in 2005. It was noticeable that there wasn’t the same volume of people coming through the resort. The same story is coming through from Kilkee as well, from people operating down there. B&Bs are having a very bad summer so far. I was speaking to one B&B owner who said that after this week they won’t have a full night until the season ends.

“It started off as a very good year, with people optimistic but unfortunately it didn’t come to pass and I know that’s a story that’s being replicated outside of the main towns. Galway is doing ok, Limerick is doing reasonably ok. The hoteliers I’ve talked to in Ennis say it’s not a year for setting records but it’s not a disappointing year for them. But in traditional places, Irish have voted with their feet and gone for a sun holiday when they can afford it,” Mr Vaughan said.

The recession is also a significant factor in the difficulties facing the sector. “I think the recession has hit very hard this year, there’s no doubt about that. Particularly the amount of people taking a night or two away, they’ve dropped. People in Lahinch have said the weekend is now just a one-night affair. They get people for a Saturday, rather than a Friday and Saturday. That’s just the way it is. There’s no answer to it at the moment – lack of confidence in the market and bad weather, the two of them coming together.”

He wasn’t altogether despondent, despite the problems. “We live to fight another day, that’s about the size of it,” Mr Vaughan said.