Land Issues
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

There are sometimes cases where there is a grey area but I think this one is black and white. The people whom I have spoken to, including the hill farmers but also people in the wider west Waterford area and in Waterford city, are outraged that a British absentee landlord who goes by the name of the Duke of Devonshire, who owns tens of thousands of acres of land and is a billionaire as far as I can see, is imposing a rent increase of 900% on 16 hill farmers in the Knockmealdown Mountains who just want to farm. They say they are being driven off the land.
What they have asked the Minister of State, through us, is for him to meet them to try to see if there is some resolution. That is a reasonable request. That would be a big step forward if the Minister of State were to agree to that. That, in turn, could put pressure on the landlord, because the landlord needs to move. I accept that. This is an issue that the landlord has to step up to the plate on as well. It is greed that is at the heart of this.
I appeal to the Minister of State to meet these hill farmers.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15