Karst landscape group to be honoured with Roscommon County Council reception
A group of artists and farmers who have been working collaboratively since 2021 to raise awareness of the unique karst landscape of South Roscommon and protect its biodiversity into the future are set to be honoured by Roscommon County Council.
At the March meeting of the Athlone Municipal District of Roscommon County Council, Cllr Emer Kelly requested that the local authority host a civic reception for the Uí Máine Kingdom Group, which is made up of the Karst Farming Group and the Celtic Eye Group.
Cllr Kelly told the meeting that Uí Máine were the successful winners of the FBD Better Farming Award for their work in protecting the unique karst landscape’s biodiversity, nature, water, heritage, mythology and folklore. She added that they had also been successful at Bord Bia's annual Bloom Festival.
“This group has been doing a lot of work to promote and protect biodiversity in the South Roscommon area, and they also do great work in the schools through the medium of art,” said Cllr Kelly. “It would be really fitting for their work to be honoured and recognised at a civic reception.”
Cllr Tony Ward endorsed the sentiments expressed by Cllr Kelly and seconded her proposal to have civic honours accorded to Uí Máine.
The matter will now be referred to the Corporate Policy Group of the council for approval.
Karst is a unique area of land in South Roscommon which is primarily made up of limestone. A group of farmers from the Taughmaconnell, Dysart and Brideswell areas set up the Karst Farming Group four years ago in an effort to highlight the karst landscape of the locality and to try to obtain funding for sustainable farming initiatives.
The group was subsequently joined by the Celtic Eye Group, an artists collective, with the combined group calling themselves Uí Máine Kingdom Group.
A map of the Karst area of South Roscommon which was drawn up by local cattle and sheep farmer and co-founder of Agri-Consultancy company, Farmeye, Eoghan Finneran, who lives in Taughmaconnell, highlights its importance as the primary source of public water for most of South Roscommon and a source of ground water feeding the nearby turloughs.
An audit of Roscommon geological sites was carried out in 2012 by Robert Meehan and Matthew Parkes for Roscommon County Council.
The audit found that almost 70% of the karst habitat has been lost since 1910, with losses accelerating over the past 30 years as farmers were incentivised to reclaim fields by clearing the boulders and bushes for farming.