{"id":646190,"date":"2026-08-19T22:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646190\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T22:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:18:11","slug":"coillte-ordered-to-stop-felling-at-forest-over-fears-for-oak-trees-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646190\/","title":{"rendered":"Coillte ordered to stop felling at forest over fears for oak trees \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coillte has been ordered to stop felling trees in a Co Tipperary<\/a> forest after allegations that well-established oaks were being cut down. <\/p>\n

The Department of Agriculture<\/a> issued a direction to the company to stop all felling at Drumwood, Rossmore, Co Tipperary, until an investigation takes place. <\/p>\n

The forestry<\/a> company was granted a felling licence for the work but it was issued for Norway spruce and Sitka spruce<\/a> \u2013 the trees most commonly grown in Ireland for commercial timber. <\/p>\n

Local people reported seeing native Irish oaks among the trees removed and raised concerns with the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

In an email sent to them on Wednesday afternoon, a senior official in the department\u2019s forest service said a direction had been issued that the works cease. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0How Ireland\u2019s forests are undergoing a revolution to boost biodiversityOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department is currently investigating the circumstances outlined in your correspondence and will take appropriate measures to ensure the licence conditions are being adhered to,\u201d the official wrote. <\/p>\n

The department confirmed the contents of the email but said in response to queries it could make no further comment at this stage. <\/p>\n

Coillte said in a statement it was aware \u201can issue has arisen in relation to the felling licence issued by the department\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoillte is engaging with the department to seek a resolution,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

Alan Moore of Hedgerows Ireland was alerted to the situation by a local man familiar with the woods which are home to a variety of songbirds, including woodpeckers, and where the endangered Irish red squirrel has been spotted. <\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to his vigilance we were able to alert the Forest Service, who have stopped work at the site and have mounted an investigation,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the reported damage to this native woodland and the apparently unlawful felling of semi-mature oak trees, and hope that this incident will prompt a wider review of the licensing and oversight of Coillte forest operations.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, Coillte said the works at Drumwood were \u201cbiodiversity<\/a>-focused forest management works\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe works are based on the principles of continuous cover forestry, a close-to-nature forest management approach that maintains continuous woodland cover while gradually creating a more diverse forest structure through the selective removal of individual trees and small groups of trees from the forest canopy,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe objective is to encourage natural regeneration, increase habitat diversity, and support improved biodiversity outcomes over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said Drumwood was part of Coillte\u2019s Forests for Nature programme, under which forests are managed primarily to protect and enhance nature and biodiversity. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe management of Drumwood will create a more structurally diverse, resilient woodland that will provide enhanced habitat for a wide range of native plants and wildlife into the future,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coillte has been ordered to stop felling trees in a Co Tipperary forest after allegations that well-established oaks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[1868,71826,15778,18,5009,19,17,3618,133,2121],"class_list":["post-646190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-biodiversity","tag-coillte","tag-department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine","tag-eire","tag-forestry","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nature","tag-science","tag-tipperary"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117124497777297517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}