Farmer claims he was left without a fence by Coillte after Éowyn
A Galway sheep farmer claims he has been waiting two months for the fence to one of his fields bordering Coillte forestry to be repaired since Storm Éowyn knocked trees onto the paddock's stone wall in late January.
Aidan Mullins, a sheep farmer in Kilconnell, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway has been farming next door to Coillte forestry since "around 1990".
Mullins has two fields that he uses to let sheep out into, one of which is directly across the road from Coillte forestry.
During Storm Éowyn, some of the trees fell, which the farmer said damaged fencing and a stone wall at the perimeter of his field, and that it has still not been repaired.
Mullins told Agriland: "The storm knocked all the trees onto my ditch. There was a stone wall and a fence, and it flattened it entirely, about 300 yards linked. There is nothing there, you could put a flock of hens out through it.
"I contacted Coillte way back, after the storm. I thought they were going to do something, because they were making all the right noises.
"A couple of lads came out to me - they looked at the damage and they took photographs, they said that someone would come along and pull the trees back in, and the fencing would follow," the farmer added.
According to Mullins, Coillte did send staff out, with machinery, to pull the trees back three weeks ago.
The farmer told Agriland that, with lambing season fast approaching at that time, he told Coillte staff that he needed the fence to be put up by March 14, at the latest.
"They said they would do what they could, but there is no fencing following. One of the lads rang me, and I asked him about the situation for fencing. He said that they had [people] fencing up in Clare, that they were basically up to their eyes, but I would be number one on their priority list," Mullins said.
"I have a feeling they might come with wire and stakes and just leave me to it. I never had any problem with Coillte, I never had any resentment towards them, it’s just an enterprise."
The farmer said that he has "ewes [lambing] left, right, and centre" and that his one remaining field is rapidly filling up.
Despite his frustrations, the Galway man said he is trying to remain positive.
"Coillte have to have a good face to deal with the public. I’ve nothing against them, they’re just doing their job, but it is really frustrating. All I can do is try and keep going and try not to get angry about it because, if I get angry, it’s counterproductive," he said.
In a statement to Agriland, Coillte said: "Storm Éowyn was a catastrophic storm which caused unprecedented damage to forests across the country. It is estimated that approximately 24,000ha of forestry (approximately 40 million trees) was significantly damaged with about 50% of that damage to Coillte forests.
"Our initial priority was on emergency works to clear road access and to support the restoration of services. Since then, Coillte’s staff and contractors have been working hard to deal with damage caused by Storm Éowyn as quickly and safely as possible, removing dangerous trees and restoring access to our neighbours."
The company said that work is currently ongoing across multiple locations in the midlands, west and north west of the country, and that given the complexity of the tree clearance work, it will take time.
"Coillte would like to thank the public for their patience as we work through repairing this unprecedented level of damage to our forests and we remind the public that fallen and overhanging trees are extremely dangerous and should only ever be cleared by fully qualified individuals," it added.
