Decarbonisation project in West Mayo village may be pilot for Ireland

A new project in the West Mayo village of Mulranny could become a pilot for the rest of the country, councillors have been told.

Mayo County Council’s climate action officer, Laura Dixon outlined to members of the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District the details of the new Mulranny Decarbonisation Zone (DZ) Action Plan, which reached the public consultation phase last Friday.

The village was formally announced by the council as Mayo’s Initial Decarbonising Zone in May 2021, aiming to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 51% by 2030 as required under Action 165 of the National Climate Action Plan.

Ms Dixon said her department has worked closely with key stakeholders in the Mulranny community over the last two years to create this plan. The new DZ will be 42 square kilometres.

She says Mulranny will be an empowered community with a low-carbon economy living in a thriving biosphere. She is confident that the community are happy with the new DZ plan, which the councillors have until February 23, 2024, to adopt.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Paul McNamara said the new plan will have an impact on farmers in Mulranny.

“The area in question has 695 people with ten different townlands with a lot of businesses, and there are approximately over 120 farmers. There’s a lot of farmland there,” Cllr McNamara said. “It’s the people of Mulranny that need to adopt this, not us councillors. We need to be guided by them in the public consultation phase.” 

“It will have a big effect on the farming community, we all know of the impacts to the environment but the impacts to the farming community, to the business community and the residents of that area is what I’d be concerned about.” 

Fine Gael’s Gerry Coyle said Mulranny is "one heck of a community", while Cllr Peter Flynn that they can be a "beacon of light" for the rest of the country.

Ms Dixon said the council will need up to €100,000 from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for the project.