Local opposition to gas drilling on Thur Mountain
Jim Dillon and his son, Dennis, tending their sheep beneath Thur Mountain.
THUR MOUNTAIN, outside Manorhamilton, may not be a landmark of national renown. But that could be about to suddenly change.
That's because Thur Mountain is a target exploration area for Tamboran Resources in its gas exploration efforts which, according to Tamboran CEO Richard Moorman, will now be concentrated exclusively in North Leitrim and West Fermanagh.
Most of the North Leitrim exploration, using the controversial "fracking" method, is expected to be located in the greater Glenfarne area. An idea of the area affected may be gauged from Tamboran's expectations to set up 40 to 60 multi-wellpads over the next 15 years in North Leitrim. At a maximum size of 2.5 hectares, or about seven acres, per multi-wellpad, Tamboran's maximum surface needs would be about 150 hectares or 420 acres, which according to Mr. Moorman would "be very minimal."
However, any such exploration is likely to be met with staunch local opposition, support by the Love Leitrim Group. Said Dervilla Keegan, the group's press officer: "Farmers who live under the mountain close to Kiltyclogher know it for the special place it is. If the resolve of these farmers holds firm, Thur Mountain may gain national significance."
She pointed out that the area was surrounded "by symbols of previous resistance," among them Mass rocks, archeological sites, small farms which battled to survive and, in the centre of Kiltyclogher, the statue of executed 1916 Rising leader, Sean Macdiarmada, whose cottage nestles beneath Thur Mountain.
According to Dervilla, the main thing one gains from meeting local farmers is their "sense of pride in the place they live."
Local sheep farmer Michael Gallagher is among those who distrust outside companies coming into the area. "They know the area to target. This area is not densely populated, it has an older population and they think they can walk all over them," he said.
Said farmer Jim Dillon, who is in his 70s: "If we have to place placards on Zimmer frames, we will protest against this. People fought for years to get away from foreign landlords. When the gas goes, what land are we left with then?
' The centenary of the 1916 Rising is in four years time. What would Sean Macdiarmada say to all of this?"
- HARRY KEANEY
