Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 5:00pm

Used illegal machine to cut turf

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Thomas Maguire, 20 Belturbet Road, Cornahoule, Derrylin was fined €500 for carrying out works in a National Heritage area, Slieve Rusheen Bog, (extracting turf with a so-called illegal sausage-type machine) on June 10, 2009, without consent from the environment minister.

The court heard that the tractor and machine used on the occasion were seized and a cost of €2,200 had been incurred for storage in the interim. The defendant had lodged a cheque in court to cover that. The defendant pleaded guilty to one of the summonses before the court and the other was struck out.

Rory Hayden, SS prosecuting, told the court that the matter involved turf cutting that was illegal in two respects - it was in a conservation area and one designated by the government for protection; and a sausage machine was used to cut the turf. He said that leads to problems with the ground left behind, including landslides and lack of moisture.

He said rangers who were policing the conservation area apprehended Mr. Maguire with the machine. He had been warned before. Mr. Maguire became upset when the rangers intimated that they were going to seize his machine.

Judge MacBride said it would obviously affect his capacity to earn money, because he was probably cutting turf for numerous people. "I'm sure he was well paid for his efforts," he said.

The gardaí also arrived at the scene and calm ensued. The tractor and machine were seized and taken some distance away for storage.

Mr. Hayden said not every bog is designated and you are free to cut turf on some.

Garret Fortune, solicitor representing Mr. Maguire, said that if his client had used a different machine, the standard bog machine instead of the sausage machine, all would have been well.

Judge MacBride said Mr. Maguire knew well which machine he should have been using, but he took a chance on Slieve Rusheen. He recalled the days of the old slean spade. "A bit of hard labour never does anyone any harm - the people are too soft nowadays with these machines."

Mr. Fortune said his client was prepared to give an undertaking that he would not go back near this mountain again. He added that Mr. Maguire has to get the tractor and machine, bring them home and put them together again.

The judge was glad that Mr. Maguire had handed in a bank draft of €2,200 to cover the cost of storage.

"If that had not been the case, I would have been imposing a substantial fine," he said.

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