Protests planned to stress plight of woods

An Taisce in Co Donegal has organised a day of protest this Sunday to raise awareness of the threat to woodland areas around …

An Taisce in Co Donegal has organised a day of protest this Sunday to raise awareness of the threat to woodland areas around the county from planned developments.

The protests will be in five locations where residents have already formed groups in opposition to specific developments.

Mr Sean O Gaoithin, of An Taisce, said more houses were being built in Donegal now than ever before.

"An Taisce is very concerned at the level of exploitation of small woodlands at the moment. As it is, we only have postage-stamp-size areas of native woodlands left.

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"This is Ireland's biodiversity and we have a responsibility to protect these kind of habitats for future generations."

Mr O Gaoithin said some of the planned developments involving a large number of houses would completely disturb the natural flora and fauna of the woodlands. "Any development around trees usually heralds their doom," he said.

Some of the controversial sites have National Heritage Area status, he said, but in some cases that didn't seem to stop people from clear-felling the trees. Most of the woodlands are privately owned.

The five locations where the protests will take place are Ballymacool Demesne outside Letterkenny, where 288 houses are to be built; Lough Eske Demesne, where developers have applied for planning permission for a hotel and holiday apartments; Porthall Wood in Buncrana, where planning permission is being sought for 44 houses; Burt Wood; and Foxhall, which is part of the Swilly Valley NHA.

For information contact (074) 22121.