Mayo cllr. to call open meeting to discuss roadside forestry damage
The cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, John O'Hara, believes that forestry falling onto main roads is "wrong no matter what anyone says".
The Fine Gael councillor told Agriland that he is going to call for an open meeting to discuss the dangers of trees hanging over electricity lines.
"[On] all our roads, trees are overhanging, they’re being trimmed by the council, we have allocated all the money we can. The council does not allocate money. They say the owner of the farm or the land is responsible to keep the trees back from the road," he said.
"These have become huge trees, and the huge trees are costing a lot of money to move. The private person cannot afford it, they need a little help."
Under the Wildlife Act 1976, the “cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of vegetation” growing in any hedge or ditch between March 1 and August 31 is not allowed.
O'Hara believes this could cause "bigger problems in the West of Ireland".
"At the end of February, we cannot cut any more trees. We have a hell of a lot of them on our roads. If any bit of wind comes again, half of them will come down again because they’re all loose."
The councillor also works for the ESB Networks.
"We had our lines up but the different crowds being supported were given grants for forestry and grants for everything. They set [trees] in near the lines, they were supposed to keep them back, but there was no heed," he said.
"Now some of the trees have been up 30 years, they’ve gone huge. The ground they’re set on is soft, there’s no root on them and they’re top heavy," he added.
O'Hara said that support needs to be given to farmers, so that they can cut trees that are hanging over electricity lines.
"The farmers cannot afford it at this stage, we need to get some sort of grant aid of some description, from Europe, to take these trees away, even if we have to do it over a five-year period. These huge trees cannot be up against the roads, they have to be taken away once and for all."
The Mayo councillor also highlighted the significance of Storm Éowyn taking place during the night, rather than during working hours.
"If that storm was in the middle of the day, no matter how you tell [the public] to stay in, they wouldn’t stay in," he said.
"We’d have a lot more deaths. A lot of them, if they'd seen the bucket running across the street at the back, they’d come out to save the bucket and something would hit them."
According to O'Hara, forestry has had a negative impact on the local landscape.
"When I was a child, I could see half a mile from the house, now I can’t see 200m. If you had an aerial photograph many years ago, you would see a lovely countryside. Now the trees are getting bigger and bigger. The trees in the forests grow six or eight foot a year. They’re getting heavier and heavier. When a line of them fall, the whole lot fall.
"The forestry has lost a whole lot of money. I have sympathy for them, but there has to be regulation that they keep back from lines, houses, and roads," he concluded.
