By Maxim Kelly
Only two city councillors attended information sessions over the summer to discuss controversial plans to clear large swathes of Merlin Woods of standing and fallen trees, with one meeting attracting zero elected reps.
A third, last-minute meeting hastily arranged yesterday, was attended remotely by a number of local politicians.
The Advertiser understands city officials and forestry contractors scheduled two meetings over the summer, but no councillors attended the first event on July 22, in Merlin Woods, while only two councillors – Mayor Helen Ogbu (Lab ) and Knocknacarra’s Donal Lyons (Ind ) – attended an information session arranged on Tuesday this week.
Mayor Ogbu and Councillor Alan Cheevers (FF ), who both represent the City East ward where Merlin Woods is situated, have requested that six months of clearfelling plans, which have generated considerable public disquiet over recent weeks, should be suspended until the issue is discussed at the city council’s first full plenary meeting after the summer break, on Monday, September 14.
A 12-page report circulated to councillors this week by Friends of Merlin Woods, a community group which has volunteered in the woodland for 15 years, is broadly supportive of City Hall’s plan to clear 43 acres of evergreens, but has serious concerns about clearing a further almost nine acres of mixed trees and shrubs in Merlin’s north woods area.
“A mature, mixed woodland, once cleared, is not restored by replanting within the working lifetime of anyone involved in this decision. This is not a reason to halt clearance of the high-risk corridors, which clearly warrant [work] it is a reason for a more sensitive approach to what is actually necessary, before a wider area is cleared,” the report argues.
The group previously raised concerns about felling 100 mature ash trees in Merlin, in 2023, and opposed plans to build a 26-bed hospice in Merlin Park ten years ago.
Clearfelling is a forestry practice where most trees in a designated area are cut down in a single operation so increased light encourages large scale replanting. Its detractors argue it temporarily disrupts animal habitats, and may damage soil nutrition.
Fallen or dangerous, storm-damaged trees are to be removed from the woods, with particular controversy over plans to remove healthy evergreens on the basis that they will be vulnerable to future wind damage once surrounding vegetation is removed.
Approximately 50 per cent of Merlin Woods is made up of Norway spruce planted as a commercial crop in the 1960s, and local authority officials say many of these trees were severely weakened by Storm Éowyn. Almost nine acres of healthy trees are also to be felled.
Contractors are expected to remove at least 5,000 tons of timber, with a commercial value of between €100,000 to €500,000 depending on grade, tree size and wood category, according to an “off the cuff” estimate by a commercial arborist, speaking to the Advertiser.
Wicklow-based forestry contractor EuroForest, in partnership with Kilkenny’s Irish Forestry Services, is expected to begin clearance work in Merlin Woods imminently, as the official bird nesting season ended on Monday, August 31. Its work is understood to be cost neutral for tax payers, as it will take ownership of the thousands of tons of timber it removes.
Since Storm Éowyn flattened thousands of trees throughout Galway in January 2024, the Galway City Council has planned a massive restoration project of the city’s largest woodland, which envelops the HSE’s vast Merlin Park University Hospital campus, and stretches from Castlepark to Ballybane, Doughiska, and Roscam - if Rosshill Park Woods are included.
Its core, 85 acres of deciduous and evergreen woodland and arboeal meadowland is a natural habitat for red squirel, fox, badger, insect life and rare orchids.
Local authority information leaflets on plans for Merlin Woods were distributed to neighbouring residents in early July, and three workshops were held to assess local concerns over the summer, with an extra meeting for residents of Merlin Park Lane last week and another scheduled.
Councillor Cheevers says residents are concerned about the impact of heavy machinery on a residential road which already hosts extra traffic as it terminates at the rear, staff entrance to Merlin Park hospital.
