A 74-year-old farmer in Co Cork who committed what a judge described as “environmental terrorism” when he felled 250 trees has been given the opportunity to carry out remedial work before he is sentenced.
Daniel Finn from Tevenie, Dromina, Charleville pleaded guilty to a number of offences contrary to the Wildlife Act 1976 relating to the felling of 250 trees on his land at Stream Hill, Doneraile between March 1st and August 31st, 2023 when he first appeared at Mallow District Court last September.
On that occasion conservation ranger Claire Deasy told the prosecution barrister, Paula McCarthy BL for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, that the offences included the knocking-down and uprooting of 250 mature and semi-mature trees and the clearing of 3.7 hectares of land.
Some of the area affected was in the Ballyhoura Mountains and was subject to a preservation order, Ms Deasy said, adding the clearing also led to the destruction of an aquatic habitat in a watercourse known to support salmonids and the destruction of a river habitat for a distance of 350m.
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Ms Deasy said that it could take 100 years to replace the trees destroyed by Mr Finn and said that when the destruction was detected last April and Mr Finn was questioned as to why he knocked down the trees, he said that he was “improving land for agriculture”.
Defence solicitor Marie Forde pointed out on the last occasion that her client had entered a guilty plea, had no previous convictions and was cognisant of “the extent and seriousness of the matter” and on Monday she told the court that Mr Finn had made strenuous efforts to try to remediate the land.
He had begun the large-scale planting of a broad leaf mix of trees including oak, birch and alder as well as whitethorn hedging at a cost of €10,700 to try to restore the land to how it was before his intervention in 2023, said Ms Forde.
Judge Colm Roberts said he welcomed the fact that Mr Finn was addressing the issue in the appropriate manner, and he fully accepted that his intention with the felling was not to destroy the environment and “if he knew then what he knows now, I have no doubt he would not be here”.
Judge Roberts said it was to Mr Finn’s credit that he had reflected on his offending and was taking steps to act on that reflection and remediate the damaged landscape and the court would take that into account when it came to penalty and would not be as punitive as it could be.
But he said he would like to see the full scale of Mr Finn’s efforts to remediate the area he had damaged. When Ms Forde confirmed that it would be springtime before the full planting takes place, he agreed to defer the issue of penalty until June 16th and adjourned the case until then.
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