There is widespread speculation this week that Teagasc is in the process of buying a 687ac hill farm in Derrintin, Leenane, Co Mayo.
The farm was leased from 1991 until 2011 by the State agency and used as a demonstration farm for hill sheep.
The land is all in one block, with around 52ac of green land and the remaining 635ac consisting of mountain land.
When queried by the Irish Farmers Journal this week, Teagasc did not deny that it is in the process of buying the hill farm.
“Teagasc recognises the need to enhance its uplands programme to be better able to deliver a multi-disciplinary research programme encompassing sheep, cattle and wider ecological and environmental topics, thereby enhancing knowledge transfer and, in doing so, support national policy development in the area.
“The purchase of a farm to enable this will require a strong business case.
“Teagasc does not comment during the process of any transactions related to property,” a Teagasc spokesperson said.
The farm has a four-bay double-sided slatted sheep unit with accommodation for 250 sheep, along with a silage base, sheep penning and dipping facilities. There is also a storage shed with toilet facilities.
When it was placed on the market in January 2026, offers in excess of €1.2m were expected for the farm.
Teagasc director Frank O’Mara declined to comment on the State agency’s intentions around the farm at the Teagasc hill sheep conference in February.
“We’d love to have more facilities, but any land we buy will have to have a very strong business case,” said O’Mara at the time.
“As regards any particular piece of land, we don’t comment publicly - good or bad,” he added.
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