A company has been prosecuted by the Department of Agriculture for felling trees without a licence on estate lands due to be developed for housing. King of the Castle Ltd, owners of Angar Stud, Hansfield Road, Clonsilla, were summonsed for felling 60 trees, mainly 100-yearold beech, in the 160-acre estate on May 23rd last year.
Dublin District Court heard there were plans for houses to be built on the estate by Manor Park Homes, a company which is part of the King of the Castle group.
Fingal County Parks Inspector Mr John Connelly said 51 of the trees were healthy and should not have been felled.
The court heard that the company had hired contractors who used chainsaws to cut down trees since April and gardai had to be called in on May 23rd with a prohibition order to stop them.
Mr John Sherwood, who lives on the estate and is part of the management team of King of the Castle, said they were exempted from having a felling licence because the only trees cut down were damaged and dangerous to traffic on Hansfield Road.
He said the company was sued following an accident in December 1995 when gardai answering an emergency call crashed into a tree which had been blown across the road causing one officer to be badly injured.
The wooded area was earmarked for playing fields as part of the housing development and the company was not under "any commercial pressure whatsoever", added Mr Sherwood.
Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick said there had been a lack of communication between the parties and asked experts on both sides to agree which trees should be felled. The case was adjourned to October 16th.