01/05/2026
Inconsistent treatment of woodland and habitat clearance 😏❓
The Killough Biogas Concern Group wishes to highlight an apparent inconsistency in how woodland and habitat clearance is treated.
As widely reported by local and national media, a Tipperary landowner was fined €10,500 after the removal of approximately 0.725 hectares of mature native hardwood woodland at Cangort Demesne, Shinrone, including the felling of 16 mature trees, one of which was estimated to be 283 years old.
The case was taken by the National Parks and Wildlife Service under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, which restricts the cutting, grubbing or destruction of vegetation on uncultivated land, hedgerows or ditches during the bird-nesting season.
The Killough Biogas Concern Group fully supports the protection of woodland, nesting birds and biodiversity.
However, the obvious question is this:
Why is one landowner publicly prosecuted and fined for clearing less than one hectare of woodland, while decades of quarry expansion at Killough Hill — involving the removal and alteration of a far larger area of woodland, limestone pavement, hazel scrub and semi-natural habitat — appears to have received far less public and regulatory scrutiny?
This is particularly concerning because Killough Hill is not ordinary waste ground.
The NPWS-linked Fahy & Goodwillie survey described Killough Hill as having “very good ground flora” and being “one of the most valuable in South Tipperary” from a biological viewpoint. The same report also stated that the “hazel woods have been bulldozed in places” and that “limestone dust is widely scattered”.
It identified the quarry as the main threat to the hill.
Roadstone’s own biodiversity chapter for the proposed bio-renewables facility confirms that Killough Hill pNHA is of national-level importance, designated for:
- limestone pavement
- semi-natural grassland
- semi-natural woodland
The same biodiversity chapter records rare and/or protected species within the local 2 km grid square, including:
- Common Frog — EU Habitats Directive Annex V / Wildlife Act
- Common Kestrel — Birds of Conservation Concern: Red
- Common Linnet — Birds of Conservation Concern: Amber
- House Sparrow — Birds of Conservation Concern: Amber
- Sand Martin — Birds of Conservation Concern: Amber
- Eurasian Badger — Wildlife Act protected species
- Eurasian Red Squirrel — Wildlife Act protected species
- Pine Marten — EU Habitats Directive Annex V / Wildlife Act
This is the point: environmental protection cannot be strict for individuals but soft for large industrial operators.
The proposed Roadstone / former Glenstone bio-renewables facility should not be assessed as if it is being placed on a blank site. The ecological baseline has already been heavily altered by decades of quarrying.
Any further industrial intensification at Killough Hill must be assessed in the context of cumulative habitat loss, protected species, woodland clearance, limestone pavement loss, quarry expansion and the wider ecological value of the hill.
If Ireland is serious about biodiversity protection, the same standard must apply to everyone — individuals, landowners, contractors, quarry operators and large corporate applicants alike.
🎥 Timelapse video from 1985-2022 showing destruction of hundreds of acres of native woodland on Killough Hill by operations at Killough quarry
