A Fianna Fail councillor and a former Green Party election candidate have requested a judicial review of Galway City Council’s decision to clearfell Merlin Woods.
The Friends of Merlin Woods community group has welcomed the legal challenge by Councillor Alan Cheevers and Claire Hillery, while city manager Leonard Cleary appealed for all parties to engage in round table negotiations concerning the 33 hectare site ravaged by Storm Éowyn in January 2025.
The Friends of Merlin Woods (FMW ) is already engaged in mediation with city officials following an interim injunction last month. This court order has temporarily cancelled felling on foot of an application under the Planning and Development Act with regard to appropriate environmental impact screening.
It is understood 75 per cent of affected areas of Merlin Woods have already been cut down, but nearly all cut logs and brash – branches and debris from forestry – remain on site, creating a biodiversity timebomb smothering the woodland floor while works are paused.
Galway City Council maintains its works, undertaken by a Wicklow forestry firm in return for timber, are necessary to remove trees made dangerous by Storm Éowyn. It involves the removal of fallen and damaged stock, as well as the clearance of 3.5 hectares of standing connifers.
Speaking to the Advertiser, Councillor Cheevers said his request for a judicial review stems from three main aspects of the local authority’s decision to clear fell Merlin Woods.
These include the validity of an Appropriate Assessment Screening Report (AASR ) under EU rules, oversight by councillors, and how city officials agreed a deal with a forestry company to carry out works in return for timber.
“This should never have happened. Arranging a barter deal in an attempt to organise a ‘cost neutral’ project is not good practice when it comes to public money, in my opinion. Like, who is monitoring value for money? Is it six or eight tons of timber being removed every day? Who is counting the trucks?” he said.
Cheevers said concern with the project’s screening report concerns when it was carried out in relation to the Merlin Woods works.
Speaking in the wake of news that two judicial reviews affecting the Galway City Ring Road and Galway Harbour redevelopment were withdrawn last week, after informal negotiations, chief executive of Galway City Council Leonard Cleary issued a call on Monday this week as the Merlin legal action was lodged.
“If there is a lesson from Galway City Ring Road, it is the value of getting around the table and having dialogue. There are two major projects now advancing because people got around the table and applied some common sense and held dialogue,” he told a meeting of councillors on Monday.
“Merlin is sub judice so I’ll be careful what I say, but it would be great to get people around the table and move on,” he added.
In a statement, FMW said it understood the judicial review application also concerned a failure by the Council’s executive to comply with its own Development Plan.
“We greatly welcome the fact that Councillor Cheevers and Claire Hillery have taken their own legal action in order to have the Court adjudicate on the issue, and we are certain that they have the support of the local community in doing so.
“Friends of Merlin Woods, as we have said previously, never saw ourselves as having to get involved in legal disputes, particularly with Galway City Council. However, the fact that there are now two sets of legal proceedings against the Merlin Woods development indicates the strength of feeling across the community on the east side of Galway city and indeed the city generally about this issue.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, city Parks officials and contractors working at Merlin say they are fearful legal delays means they will be unable to clear vast quantities of brash before the nesting season begins in February, or remove the unsecured timber which is stacked in Merlin. Logs and cut tree stumps pose a health and safety issue.
Vast fenced off areas are officially active forestry sites, and with two more weeks of felling required, the fear is that the urban parkland will remain closed next summer until vegetation removal is allowed again in September. The city has employed a 24-hour security company.
