An Aran island hotelier has been fined €1,200 for illegally reclaiming a field in a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
In a separate prosecution, Martin Flaherty, owner of the Óstán Inis Óirr on Inis Óirr, has been given until next week to clean up an illegal dump he created down the road from his hotel.
Flaherty, of Village West, Inis Óirr, pleaded guilty in the first case to carrying out reclamation work by importing soil and in-filling limestone pavements and grassland near his hotel between December 17th, 2001, and February 7th, 2002, contrary to Article 14 of the EU (Natural Habitats) Regulations, 1997.
Flaherty also pleaded guilty to reseeding the reclaimed 2½-acre field without first seeking permission to do so from the Minister for the Environment.
In a separate prosecution before Aran District Court, he further pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an enforcement notice issued by Galway County Council on April 22nd last year in relation to illegal dumping, contrary to Section 55 of the Waste Management Act. Conservation ranger Mr Brian Duffy gave evidence that his department received a number of phone calls from concerned residents on Inis Óirr who said sand was being shifted off the beach.
He went to investigate the complaint and arrived on the island on December 17th, 2001.
He found a teleporter and three tractors with trailers attached, busily removing sand from a beach and bringing it to the field in question where another tractor with a transport box was levelling the sand.
Mr Duffy said he informed the accused that the field was situated in an SAC where protected flora had been present, and that in order to carry out any such reclamation works he would have needed the Minister's permission.
Mr Duffy said Flaherty claimed he didn't know what an SAC was, even though all landowners in SAC areas had been notified of the term and its implications as far back as 1997, and had been issued with explanatory documentation.
When told the work was illegal, Flaherty said he didn't care. When told he could be prosecuted, Flaherty replied in more "colourful" language that he still didn't care, Mr Duffy told the court.
Mr Duffy returned to inspect the field again the following February and he found it had been seeded with grass and there were cattle grazing on it.
Defence solicitor Ms Ann Jennings said that when her client was growing up on the island, people always took sand from the beach to improve their lands. If one didn't have six inches of soil in a potato field, one wouldn't get agricultural grants, she said.
Hearing that the accused was a hotel owner, Judge Mary Fahy said he, of all people, should work to protect the island's flora, as it attracted tourists. People, she said, were entitled to the island being kept intact and treated with respect.
Judge Fahy fined Flaherty €1,200 on the first summons and took the second summons into account because he pleaded guilty.
In the second prosecution, brought by Galway County Council for failure to comply with an enforcement notice for dumping rubbish from his hotel illegally on the island, community warden Mr Martin Mannion said he became aware of the illegal dump after people working in the local recycling plant noted Flaherty was not using the recycling facility as much as he should.
Judge Fahy said this was very serious, especially as the tourist season was now in full swing.
The judge adjourned the matter to Derrynea District Court for June 15th to allow Flaherty time to clean up the dump and dispose of all rubbish there properly.
She warned him that a superficial attempt at a clean-up would not be accepted, and that he would have to pay for the cost of having the area cleaned properly.