Commonage plans threaten livelihoods of many hill farmers

At the foot of Hungry Hill, near Castletownbere, John O’Sullivan-Greene has farmed for more than 30 years. A sheep farmer and a hill man, his flock grazes on the Ballard Commonage above his land.

Commonage has been part of Irish farming tradition for generations. O’Sullivan-Greene can trace his access rights back to an original document drawn up in 1910. You can’t buy or sell commonage, it is owned mainly by the State and shares in it come with the land deeds of the farms below.

Most commonage in Ireland is on the hills, concentrated on the western seaboard from Donegal down to West Cork. There is about 420,000 hectares of land remaining in the 4,500 commonages farmed by about 11,000 farms.