Rocks and stones can now be taken into account in farm payment applications
This is a reversal of an older policy and will have a big impact in hill farming in Connemara.
There are no rolling stones like the band from former times in Connemara.
The rocks are embedded forever in the Mám Toirc and the Twelve Bens ranges, and in many a smaller hill.
But for decades the stones and rocks were disregarded by the powers that be in Agriculture in Europe and in Ireland.
While being in existence in reality, they did not exist on paper – farmers with stony lands and mountain commonages were told to take the areas covered in rocks out of their grant applications.
Farming organisations in Connemara campaigned against that on the grounds that the rocks are an integral part of the landscape
Now, the powers that be have come around to that way of thinking, in percentage terms, on paper.
It is agreed that rocks are part of the great earth and a priceless feature of the environment and can now be brought in from the cold.
