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Irish Rail doing what they do best

Out and about in nature
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Del.Monte
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Irish Rail doing what they do best

#1

Post by Del.Monte »

Came across this piece in the Wexford Guardian of 13th April. Absolutely typical of the autocratic way CIE/IE operate and they are only at their best when knocking down perfectly good buildings or pursuing their scorched earth policy on anything green near the railway.

Perhaps they will install a tannoy system at this location and play the sounds of birdsong like they did at Pearse Station a while back? :roll:

Image

Irish Rail has rejected claims by the chairman of the Rosslare Development Association (RDA) that works carried out to clear a mass expanse of vegetation near Rosslare Strand train station were undertaken during nesting season.

The works, which will see an eight-foot palisade fence erected between the train station and Rosehill, involved the a quarter mile of gorse, blackthorn, whitethorn and trees being removed, work which Mr Flynn likened to an “ecological murder scene”.

“The timing of this seems to fly in the face of the various wildlife acts. They’ve completely cleared away all the vegetation, the gorse, all the hedgerows,” said Mr Flynn. “Nobody was aware, other than two of the landowners, that this was going to happen.”

The Wildlife Act, 1976 restricts the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction by other means of vegetation growing on uncultivated land or in hedges or ditches during the nesting and breeding season for birds and wildlife, from March 1 to August 31.

These restrictions apply not only to private land-users but also to local authorities, public bodies and to contractors

Mr Flynn alleges that the work at Rosslare Strand began after March 1 and therefore contravenes the statutes set out by the Act.

And the impact on the wildlife in the area has been devastating, he says. “At a time when cuckoos are coming into Rosslare, birds are nesting, we would question both the timing and the reason. There would have been hedgehogs, rabbits, hares, nesting birds all in that gorse, it’s an ecological murder scene.”

However, Barry Kenny, Corporate Communications Manager with Irish Rail, denied allegations that the work had been carried out during nesting season. Explaining why the vegetation had been cleared away, he said the company had complied with all existing regulations when commencing its operations.

“The tree felling and vegetation removal works commenced on Tuesday, February 15 and were completed on Saturday, February 26, so the claim regarding the Irish Wildlife Act is incorrect,” said Mr Kenny. “At this location, which is a quarter of a mile, fencing was life expired, and on the landowners side of the boundary, there were 15 large trees (four of which had previously fallen) some small trees, bushes and firs.

“The adjacent landowner was experiencing trespass and anti-social behaviour issues because of the issues with the boundary, and was requesting for the trees to be felled. In renewing the fencing, we would have needed to remove some in any event to do this, and the risk of the trees falling on the line was increasing, so we agreed to do this.”

Prior to these works, Paula Murphy’s home had been completely surrounded by hedgerows, by blackthorn, gorse and trees. Then one morning she woke up to find what she describes as “trenches from WWI” outside her window.

“We haven’t had any answers regarding what’s going in here. We were surrounded by beautiful gorse, beautiful hedgerows, and now I’m looking down on this,” she says pointing to the barren expanse of mud and dirt. “We can see the rabbits out trying to find somewhere new to burrow.”

According to Irish Rail the vegetation was cleared to make room for a new eight-foot high fence, but Mr Flynn believes this will cause further issues in the area. “I would have a great worry about anti-social behaviour, it’s a great area for youngsters to go to now, those walls are exposed now and the graffiti artists will move in, they always do.

“We realise work has to be done but they should consult with the local people and I would say the timing of this is absolutely awful, you couldn’t have picked a worse time to do this.

“All these organisations should be mandated to talk to the local communities before they start any works. In the absence of information rumours and ideas ferment that may not be correct. It would have literally taken a leaflet being dropped in saying ‘look, we’re going to be doing this work, here’s the bullet points’.”

Discussing its future plans for the area, Mr Kenny said Irish Rail were “currently on site preparing the embankment for new fencing and drainage on both the landowner’s side and our side. The embankment will then be reseeded and re-planted with native hardwoods one metre from the fence line.”
- and pigs will fly! :roll: :roll: :roll:
'no more blah blah blah'
kadman
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Re: Irish Rail doing what they do best

#2

Post by kadman »

So we are destroying beautiful native wildlife species and animal habitats to replace them with native hardwoods.
I would lose the head if I saw that, and personally tear any political/council member a new asshole if they knocked on my door looking for support for them at all.

Its a horrible site. The only way we get our own back on these types of things is to continue planting on any land we own.

Its maddening.
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Del.Monte
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Re: Irish Rail doing what they do best

#3

Post by Del.Monte »

kadman wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:46 pm So we are destroying beautiful native wildlife species and animal habitats to replace them with native hardwoods.
I would lose the head if I saw that, and personally tear any political/council member a new asshole if they knocked on my door looking for support for them at all.

Its a horrible site. The only way we get our own back on these types of things is to continue planting on any land we own.

Its maddening.
Yes, and one can imagine CIE's promised replanting of the area with native hardwoods.
'no more blah blah blah'
765489

Re: Irish Rail doing what they do best

#4

Post by 765489 »

Wouldn't mind the holes for the metal posts for palisade fencing is tiny. What are they building, the great wall of China?

Muppets.
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