A Co. Kilkenny man has been convicted and fined €2,000 for the removal of 112m of hedgerow and the grubbing out of a further 180m of hedgerow on his land.
On Monday July 18, 2022, at Waterford District Court, 68-year-old John Murphy of Ballynaboley, Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to the destruction of the growing vegetation in a hedgerow between the March 1 and August 31 contrary to Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts.
The offence took place on and around the April 14, 2021 at Ballynaboley, Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny.
The offence was investigated by the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It was prosecuted under the Wildlife Acts by William Maher BL, instructed by Gerald Meaney, state solicitor for Co. Kilkenny.
In his evidence to the court, an NPWS conservation ranger told Judge David Staunton that, on the April 14, he travelled to Mullinavat to investigate a complaint from a member of the public that hedgerows were being destroyed.
On site, he found a machine and piles of vegetation, which he believed had come from a hedgerow dividing two fields.
The ranger observed that some of the vegetation had fresh leaves on it. Follow-up enquiries led him to the farmyard of Murphy, whom he interviewed.
The conservation ranger acknowledged that some of the work may have commenced before the March 1 but that the majority was carried out after that date, and right up to the day he called to the property.
The NPWS conservation ranger outlined to the court that all birds were protected by law, and that the removed hedgerow and grubbed vegetation from another section of hedgerow would have provided nesting opportunities for many farmland bird species.
The court was informed that the bird-nesting season is widely advertised and commonly known among famers and farming organisations.
In summing up, Judge Staunton took into account the guilty plea and that as a farmer Murphy was carrying out works to improve his farm. However, the judge commented that this was not the taking out of a bush or pruning back of a tree, and he described the removal of 112m of hedgerow as major activity.
Judge Staunton stated that he was impressed with the evidence provided by the NPWS conservation ranger. He said that the work carried out by Murphy was a blatant disregard for a piece of legislation and that it was important such legislation wasn’t ignored when it suited.
Judge Staunton convicted Murphy and fined him €2,000 with six months to pay.