Further Applications for Commonage Advisor Positions.

The most recent listing of applications for Commonage advisor positions shows that advisors have applied for a further 44 commonages, bringing the total to 308.

The latest list includes sites in Waterford and Wexford for the first time. The County with the greatest increase is Donegal with 14 applications. Galway continues to be very strong with a further 12 applications. The rate of increase in Mayo has slowed to just an additional 4 commonages in the last week. Cavan, Sligo, Leitrim and Tipperary also show modest increases in numbers. The current position is shown on the table below.

County	No. of Commonages	% of National Total
Galway	117	37.99
Mayo	71	23.05
Donegal	50	16.23
Tipperary	17	5.52
Kerry	12	3.90
Leitrim	12	3.90
Cavan	8	2.60
Sligo	7	2.27
Cork	4	1.30
Wicklow	3	0.97
Waterford	3	0.97
Clare	1	0.32
Laois	1	0.32
Roscommon	1	0.32
Wexford	1	0.32
Totals	308	100.00

 

We probably should not read too much into last week’s figures coming as they were in the week that both GLAS and the BPS schemes closed.  Advisors were preoccupied with those schemes and so applications for commonage advisory positions were almost certainly depressed.  However with less than two weeks until the closing date for these applications the application rate can be expected to pick up.

This leaves us with two very obvious questions.

1. Will the expected increase in applications be enough to cover the bulk of Commonage applicants?
2.  What role will the Commonage Implementation Committee take in accommodating those left behind?

The answers to these questions will become clear soon enough.

How many Active Commonage Advisors are there?

The Dept. of Agriculture’s website lists 275 Advisors that have been approved for the production of Commonage Management Plans. Of these only 39 have been approved/ applied to be the advisor for one or more commonages. The list of active advisors and the number of commonages that they are associated with is given below.  

As you can see out of the 39 advisors involved, to date the 10 most active account for 66% of the total. Yourcommonage advisors Thady O Brien, Fergal Monaghan and Craig Gilligan have been approved/ applied for 52 commonages or just shy of 20 % of the national total.

	No. of Commonages	% of National Total
Michael Martyn	31	11.74
Thady O'Brien	30	11.36
Fergal Monaghan	21	7.95
Brian Dolan	19	7.20
John Geraghty	15	5.68
Pat Burke	14	5.30
John Staunton	13	4.92
Emmet McGloin	11	4.17
Martin Heffernan	11	4.17
Enda Gilrane	10	3.79
Ian Kenny	9	3.41
Stephen Hynes	8	3.03
John Noonan	7	2.65
Pat O'Donnell	7	2.65
Peter Cannon	7	2.65
Aoife Kelliher	6	2.27
Joanne Hamilton	6	2.27
Claire Greehy	4	1.52
Liam McKinney	4	1.52
Andy Ryder	3	1.14
Susan Clancy	3	1.14
Tom Dawson	3	1.14
Vincent Costello	3	1.14
John McDonagh	2	0.76
Ray Gilmartin	2	0.76
Wesley Carr	2	0.76
Andy Dunne	1	0.38
Craig Gilligan	1	0.38
Damian Scahill	1	0.38
Darragh Kelly	1	0.38
Deirdre Ward	1	0.38
Derek Beckett	1	0.38
Fergal Boyle	1	0.38
Gerard P. Durkan	1	0.38
John Fleming	1	0.38
Laura Johnston	1	0.38
Liam Butler	1	0.38
Michael Flynn	1	0.38
Shane O'Meara	1	0.38
Totals	264	100.00

Advisor Approvals for Commonages.

The Basic Payment Scheme Application period is behind us, the commonage planning campaign will soon begin. As of now Advisors have been appointed/ applied for 264 commonages out of a national total of approx. 4,500. The total numbers however mask some very pronounced regional disparities. Of particular interest is that Galway accounts for almost 40% of the national total, this is a huge proportion, considering that Galway only has about 11% of the total number of commonages over 10 Ha in size. Mayo also has a very respectable 25% of the National total (although Mayo has around 50% more commonages than Galway). In total Galway and Mayo account for almost 2/3 of the commonages where advisors have expressed an interest. At the other end of the scale the situation in Munster continues to be very weak with only 14 commonages in Tipperary, 10 in Kerry, 4 in Cork, 1 in Clare and none at all in Waterford (an important commonage county). The full list showing the progress in appointing advisors on a county basis is shown below.

The level of activity in each county is not surprisingly closely linked to the counties where the leading commonage advisors operate. Four out of the ten most active advisors (including two out of the top three) have their principal area of operation in Galway. This more than anything else explains why the level of activity in Galway is so high. In all likelihood, competition between these operators has driven them and others to a greater level of activity, thus explaining the exceptional level of progress in the county. It is also no surprise that 12 commonage counties show no activity and that only 5 have commonages (with advisors) in the double figures.

Of course the numbers of commonages are not everything. The commonages with advisors appointed vary enormously in size and in the number of shareholders involved. A fairly large proportion of them have very small numbers of shareholders although there are some like Knockadav in Galway (where Fergal Monaghan is the Advisor) with 49 farmers claiming UAA.

 Advisors in Galway cannot be accused of cherry picking the easier commonages, Knockadav already mentioned is vast (1,753 Ha) and Davillaun where Pat Burke has applied to be the advisor is a rocky offshore island halfway out to Inishbofin, with no landing place and accessible only in the best of sea conditions. I know from experience with monitoring commonages that this particular site will be very challenging and any fee hard earned.

It should also be noted that not all of these commonages will proceed to a successful Commonage Management Plan, there are quite a few where the number of GLAS applicants will be very small and where the production of a plan will be completely unviable from both a financial perspective and from the stocking burden placed on one or two individuals.

Despite the level of progress in Galway, the situation nationally is very worrying, a little over 6% of commonages have an advisor with only 2 weeks until the close of applications for these positions. Undoubtedly with GLAS and the BPS behind us, more applications for the commonage advisor roles can be expected before June 12th. Will there be enough to deliver the level of progress needed?

Only time will tell.

County	No. of Commonages with an Advisor	% of National Total
Galway	104	40.31
Mayo	66	25.58
Donegal	35	13.57
Tipperary	14	5.43
Kerry	10	3.88
Leitrim	9	3.49
Sligo	6	2.33
Cavan	4	1.55
Cork	4	1.55
Wicklow	3	1.16
Clare	1	0.39
Laois	1	0.39
Roscommon	1	0.39

GLAS Closing date to be extended until next Tuesday

The Dept of Agriculture have announced that the closing date for GLAS will be extended until 23:59 on Tuesday 26th of May. This a welcome development and will surely help get a few thousand more farmers over the line for the first tranche. It will also (slightly) reduce the pressure on farm advisors, who have the BPS closing date also coming up next week. Grateful for small mercies but no time for rest.

Training for Controlled Burning.

An interesting development at the seminar for advisors on the land eligibility issue held in Carrick on Shannon last week. The dept recognise that training in controlled burning is required and suggested that it could be included as a module for GLAS training.

Credit where credit is due, this is an important step and if properly managed could be very useful.

More details on developments on the eligibility front in the coming days.