The West Connacht Cooperation Project (CP) team - part of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) - has carried out a research project on the impact of fire on commonage lands.

The project was triggered by a fire in May 2024, which burned 7ha of large commonage in the Tawnyoran/Bundorragha area in Co. Mayo.

The commonage is within the ACRES West Connacht CP zone, as it is in the Mweelrea/Sheefry/Erriff special area of conservation (SAC).

ACRES West Connacht has started the research project on the site, which, the project team said, aims to better understand how long it takes the area to recover after a fire, and to improve management advice for farmers to reduce the risk of fires on their land.

As part of this project, the ACRES peatland scorecard, plant species, and beetles are being studied in more detail, with comparisons being made between the burnt area and an unburnt area in the parcel.

To assess the effectiveness of the ACRES peatland scorecard in capturing the impacts of burning on a habitat, these areas were scored separately.

The burnt area was found to have scored 4/10 on the scorecard as it had few plant species present after the burn, and had marks deducted for the damaging activity of burning.

The unburnt area was found to have scored higher as it had more plant species growing and no damaging activities.

The CP team said that these results show that the scorecard effectively captured the impacts of the fire.

The research project was carried out by setting five quadrants in each area to study the plant species and observe differences between the two areas annually.

The CP team said that the study allows for the investigation of how long it takes vegetation to recover.

In terms of future plans for the site, the team said that these would include reducing the cover of purple moor grass by potentially introducing cattle grazing and/or strimming.

The team said that reducing the abundance of purple moor grass would improve the structure of land parcel, which should increase the ACRES score.

Improving biodiversity on the site, so other plant species would grow and the fuel load for fires would be reduced, is also envisaged for the future of the site.

In other ACRES news, a county councilor in Co. Sligo has said she tabled a motion at the most recent meeting of the county council, calling on Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine Martin Heydon to "urgently prioritise" the processing of delayed ACRES payments.

Cllr. Marie Casserly said that "unacceptable delays" were impacting many farmers, with some "waiting up to two years for payments on correctly submitted applications".

"Such delays are entirely unreasonable and place undue financial strain on farmers who are simply seeking to access the supports they are entitled to," the councilor said.

She said that her motion calls on Minister Heydon to appoint a dedicated official within his department to oversee the streamlining of all farm payments and to promote "a culture of common sense and clear communication in dealing with the farming community".

"This is about ensuring that farmers are treated fairly and that bureaucracy does not create unnecessary hardship for them. We need to see a real commitment from the [Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine] to improve its process and engaging meaningfully with those on the ground," Cllr. Casserly added.