Farmers Protest Rent Hike in London

0:00On April 2nd, supporters of Hill Farmers in Lismore County, Waterford took their fight to London with the sit-in at the Duke of Devonshire's Rare Books, Shop, Haywood Hill. These farmers rent land on his not-meal-down mountains of state, and they're facing a massive rent hike from about 520 euros per hectare, to 5,200 euros, that's roughly a 10 times jump. The dispute has simmered for years, with farmers saying rents have crept up steadily over the last 12 years. Thomas Fitzgerald traces his family's sheet farming there back to the 1600s. Friends in London, including some Irish-born locals and young folks with Irish roots, organized the protest to shine a spotlight beyond Ireland. It stirred up strong feelings, hitting on old tensions about landowners holding sway over family farms. Fitzgerald says they're stuck in talks and just want fair negotiations, not eviction threats that could end generations of work on those hills. The Lismore State defends the increase as the first since 2017,

1:01backed by an independent consultant and promises a gradual rollout. Through 2029, meanwhile, Sin Fein TD, Conner McGinnis is calling for government intervention to protect these families from what he calls a 900%. Spike, this London action has amplified their voices, pushing the Duke and locals toward real dialogue before more families get priced out of the mountains. That's your update from Europe News Today, powered by AI.