The ongoing dispute between sheep farmers in Lismore and the Duke of Devonshire over rent increases has been taken to London, as protesters supporting the Waterford farmers occupied a rare bookshop in London owned by the Duke.
Protesters played Irish music outside the bookshop and then entered the premises where they made speeches as Gaeilge and called for solidarity with the Lismore farmers.
Speaking to Gript this week, the Knockmealdown sheep farmers who claim that what they say is a 900% rent increase would force them out, said they “won’t go cap in hand” to the owners of the estate but are seeking an opportunity to sit down and discuss what they feel are unfair rent hikes.
Some of those involved say their families have farmed the hills for hundreds of years, stretching back to before the time of Cromwell – and argue that they feel the rent hikes will force them off the land.
The Lismore Estate insists that the rent proposed “is considerably less than the market rent” and that they await a “collective and aligned response” from the farmers.
But farmers say that because of the dispute over rent, the estate has refused to give then letters proving they are leasing the grazing land, and that they therefore cannot obtain the Basic Income Support for Sustainability from the Department of Agriculture which farmers rely on.
The family of the Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish, purchased Lismore Castle and 40,000 acres in Cork and Waterford from Sir Walter Raleigh – a British commander who employed brutal methods against Irish rebels and citizens during the Second Desmond Rebellion in the late 16th century, and is infamous for his participation in indiscriminate slaughter in Dún an Óir and elsewhere.
The group of activists who protested the Duke’s bookshop included Willie Howard, who grew up in Lismore, and who told the Independent that he organised the protest at the Heywood Hill bookshop as a “proactive stance of solidarity” with the farmers.
Mr Howard said a group of around 25 protesters entered the bookshop on Curzon Street in Mayfair on Thursday afternoon and stayed for around 90 minutes where they made speeches inside as Gaeilge.
In a letter, the supporters of the Lismore farmers addressed the Duke as owner of the bookshop, saying “we urge you to revise this shameful decision and guarantee that the hill farmers of the Knockmealdowns will have a future.”
The protest was attended by representatives of the republican organisation, the Terence McSwiney Commemoration Committee in London, and by Irish activists in the city, as well as British trade unionists Mr Howard told the Independent.
Sinn Féin TD, Conor McGuinness, who previously told the Dáil that the Minister needed to intervene in the dispute, highlighted the London protest.
Lismore Estate say that the rent review “was guided by an independent agricultural consultant and was shared with the graziers in 2024.”
“The rent increase for this group of graziers of the Knockmealdown Mountains will take the price per hectare from 5 euros to 50 euros by 2029, a rate that is 25% of the current market rate. The rent being charged to this group of graziers in 2026 is 25 euros per hectare,” they said in a statement.