Monday, 24 February 2014

Dormancy Rates on Irish Commonages

Analysis of 2012 LPIS data showing commonages and Herd No.'s declaring commonage shares.


County          Area        Ref Area            No.                       Herd               % of                Dormancy
                                                                   of                          No's           Commonage             Rate
                                                           Commonage                with              claimed
                                                           Land Parcels         Commonage
                                                                                   
Carlow           2550.90         2417.58        35                          183                  66.04                    33.96
Cavan             4804.44        4708.52         67                          137                  55.67                    44.33
Clare               5040.61       4412.51         190                         376                 70.65                     29.35
Cork             20100.09      17466.26        552                          909                 68.92                    31.08
Donegal       74559.86      70729.13       1278                       2571                 63.62                     26.38
Dublin           2320.07         2273.91         11                           40                   40.66                    59.34
Galway        67670.65       61413.00       1389                      2713                 59.63                     40.37
Kerry.           65462.76       60793.98        843                      1935                 71.26                     28.74
Kildare          1586.48          1292.59        13                           35                   53.76                    46.24
Kilkenny         538.65           517.06           9                           33                   87.68                    12.32
Laois             1898.33         1130.25          31                          97                   44.59                    55.41
Leitrim        12701.55       12561.77         172                       484                   68.23                    31.77
Limerick       2235.26          2178.56         26                         65                    42.71                    57.29
Longford         401.79            371.86         23                         60                   72.37                     27.63
Louth             2901.01          2775.21        27                        153                   35.81                     64.19
Mayo         107743.37      103712.59     1431                      3297                  62.33                     37.67
Meath.               96.49              93.40          4                         12                    38.96                     61.04
Monaghan.        14.11                0.90          2                           2                      1.96                     98.04
Offaly              407.68            342.81         23                        37                    64.14                     35.86
Roscommon  1393.89          1308.61         86                       151                   53.49                     44.51
Sligo            12779.36        12218.45       207                       454                   69.43                     30.57
Tipperary     11714.23       11257.31        131                       319                   70.48                    29.52
Waterford      9418.01         9236.48         63                        181                    65.26                    34.74
Westmeath      165.61               93.55       12                         22                     63.32                    26.68
Wexford        2758.77           2625.55       31                        108                    60.24                    39.76
Wicklow      24714.36        24255.76       137                       341                    50.72                    49.28

TOTAL    435978.32       410187.60      6793                   14632                   63.30                   36.70


Adapted from NPWS Submission on CAP reform May 2013.

The table above shows the area of commonage in each county along with the number of shareholders declaring commonage shares in 2012. Interestingly this table gives us detailed information on the % of commonage land claimed and this allows us to determine the extent of dormant shares on a county basis. We can see that the National Average of 63.3% of commonage area claimed in 2012 masks a large variation from county to county. Of the main commonage counties the % claimed was as low as 50.72% in Wicklow rising to a high of 71.26% in Kerry.

This analysis suggests that the dormancy rate on a national level is 36.7%. Leaving aside Monaghan where the very small areas involved contribute to an atypical dormancy rate the county with the highest dormancy rate is Louth with 64.19% of commonage land unclaimed. Considering the large amount of commonage land particularly in the Cooley peninsula this is surprising and will be locally problematic. At the other end of the spectrum the dormancy rate in Kilkenny is 12.32% and in Kerry, an important commonage county it is only 28.74%.

Obviously within each county there would also be considerable variation as the usage pattern on each commonage would vary. What is clear however is that the dormancy issue will be a significant factor in developing commonage management structures throughout the country. This requires clarification on how the qualified majority required for setting up a grazing association can be met. If the 80% referred to in the draft proposals refers to total shareholders then we have a big problem, as no county has 80% or more shares declared. If the qualified majority is 80% of the shareholders declaring commonage on their SPS return then this issue is eased somewhat.

The Dept. of Agriculture should clarify not only how the qualified majority is to be calculated but also how farmers on commonages with large dormancy rates are going to be compensated for the extra difficulties that they face. In particular how shareholders who are required to maintain all of the area in GAEC, yet between them may only be eligible for payments on 60% or less of the reference area. Surely there is a case here for making these farmers eligible for GLAS+ payments.

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