The forest service has confirmed that legal action is being considered over a woodland area at Beaufort in Co Kerry where unlicensed felling of broadleaved trees has occurred. Last week the felling was halted by gardai when objectors complained that the licence to fell was being breached. The wood, near Killarney, is owned by the Killarney town engineer, Mr Donal Mangan.
A spokesman for Duchas, the Heritage Service, also confirmed yesterday that because of the felling, an established heronry occupied by up to 10 pairs of breeding birds in the wood has been destroyed and the habitat for a colony of native red squirrel has been disrupted.
Mr Pat Foley, a wildlife ranger with Duchas, said his hope was that both the herons and the squirrels would re-establish them selves. Both species favour the Scots pine, for which a felling licence had been granted to Mr Mangan as part of a project to remove mature conifers for commercial reasons.
In January 1999 an application by a relative of Mr Mangan's, Ms Dympna Clifford, for the construction of four houses in a section of the wood was granted by Kerry County Council. But on appeal by a local conservation group and Mr T. J. O'Sullivan, an engineering technician, An Bord Pleanala subsequently reversed the permission.
The refusal by the board was made on the grounds that the proposed development would militate against the preservation of the rural environment and would require the felling of a large number of established trees and the opening up of a woodland area by the introduction of a service road.
The refusal further said the proposed development would seriously injure the amenities of the area and would be contrary to its proper planning and development. Mr Mangan spoke to The Irish Times last weekend and referred the matter to his solicitor and to a consultant forester. A private consultant forester, Mr Jim Costello, employed by Mr Mangan, said that while some broadleaved trees, not allowed for in the licence, had been felled, there would be natural regeneration and wildlife would return. But yesterday, despite claims that a minuscule number of broadleaved trees had been felled, the evidence on a visit to the wood was that there was widespread destruction of ash, oak, birch and other species.
Mr Philip O'Sullivan, the solicitor acting for the Killarney conservation group, and Mr T. J. O'Sullivan, have demanded Mr Mangan's felling programme should cease immediately and that there should be full replanting of the trees cut down outside of the licence. He said yesterday that if this did not happen, he would institute High Court proceedings against the owner.