Wildlife Protection
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Mairéad Farrell (SF), Galway West

I appreciate that. I appreciate that the Minister of State is not the line Minister and that it is quite a specific case, but the reason I raise it here is because the people have not been silent in relation to this. The community has not been silent about it. The people who deal with Merlin Woods day in, day out have been saying they feel this is a serious destruction of the habitat, as I have outlined, and of many different species. They have spoken about the serious impact it has on wildlife. The Minister of State mentioned that there was not a requirement for a tree-felling licence but the works at Merlin Woods must follow environmental laws, even if there are exemptions. From my understanding, it seems that there is no funding in place at the moment for the replanting. That is another question that needs to be answered by the Minister.
The question of a clean-up on foot of Storm Éowyn is separate to what I have raised. In this instance, the felling of healthy, standing trees is having a serious impact. It is a serious concern. In addition to the protest outside Galway City Council, we have had protest walks through Merlin Woods because the community has stated very clearly that this is destruction of wildlife. These are people who know what they are talking about. They know this woodland. They have been photographing it for years on end and know exactly what has been there and what is being destroyed. I understand the Minister of State is not the line Minister, but I have raised this as a Topical Issue for the Minister in question to respond. I understand there will be another response from the Minister, but he needs to respond urgently.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29