Hundreds of farmers face financial losses because of the Government's failure to properly drain the Shannon River

Many farmers have lost their entire crops of hay

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Hundreds of farmers along the Shannon River are facing financial hardship this year following recent extensive rainfall.

The Irish Farmers' Association says hay crops along the Shannon lowlands have all effectively been destroyed due to flooding.

It says this has been allowed to happen because of consistent Government failure to tackle the problem.

IFA President Tim Cullinan says affected farmers want a dedicated State agency to tackle flooding along the Shannon Callows:

"Normally what happens here is the 1st of July those callows, there's hay cut or silage made during that period of July/August. Obviously with the flooding this year that was unable to happen."

He continued, "What we've been saying for a while and the people in that area have been saying that they want one body, one agency to deal with this."