Mayo county councillor John O’Malley told the Irish Farmers Journal that he believes water tables should be opened with spades rather than machines following damage to a farmer’s fence and stone wall in Mayo.

O’Malley explained that Mayo County Council opened water tables to take water off the road on the Ballinrobe road out of Westport last week.

However, he said the bucket on the machine bucket was too big, and it broke down the stones and fence.

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“They opened two water tables and broke down the stone wall that was against the bank of a road and broke the wire that was on top of it. The man had to take his cattle out of the field because he was afraid they’d go out onto the road.

“I didn’t think it was good enough that they could just do that. They wandered off and didn’t even tell him the fence was down.

“The farmer wasn’t happy at all when he saw the state of the fence. Now there’s holes in the stone wall and stones down the field and wire broke.”

A spade

The councillor believes a spade should be used instead of a machine for such operations.

“You wouldn’t do damage with a spade and have it done just as quick. I can’t understand why they had to have a big machine out to open up water tables because they used to use a spade to let the water off. There was no damage done and it was very effective. I think that method would have to be changed,” O’Malley said.