Heading Leitrim councillors cautious over plans to 're-wet' land 

Cllr Paddy O'Rourke has asked that the Council urge the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to “tread carefully with regard to plans to re-wet any lands; be they public lands or Coillte lands.”

He continued that the “re-wetting of such lands could impact on adjoining farms, as well as posing a possible flood risk in some low lying areas. Given the level of investment that has been directed towards the draining of farmland down through the years, we cannot have a situation where all of this would be undone by hasty decisions regarding the locations of rewetting.”

Addressing his fellow members at a recent council meeting he said that as Leitrim is a small county he believed it could be “detrimental” to the road network.

Cllr Sean McGowan said he felt all relevant stakeholders need to be involved in the decision including farmers, Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture and “incentivise it for farmers" with many of other councillors also voicing their support.