Coolmore Fined Hedgerow Destruction — A Farm, a Courtroom and the Lost Green Ribbons of Tipperary
On a damp morning in a Tipperary field, earth-moving machines had already carved clear lines where hedgerows once stood; the silence left in their wake felt like the absence of old neighbors. That scene lies at the center of the case in which coolmore fined hedgerow destruction was the charge that led to a €100, 000 penalty and a courtroom examination of responsibilities, heritage and biodiversity.
What happened on the land and what did the court find?
Inspectors from the Department of Agriculture visited land in Ballygerald East in October 2022 after a complaint by Hedgerows Ireland. Evidence presented at Clonmel Circuit Court showed some 1. 15km of hedges had been removed and two clay banks with a combined length of 360m had been levelled with diggers by the time of a later inspection. Senior inspector Imogen McGuinness told the court she believed the hedges had been planted between 1700 and 1800, contained mixed species and provided valuable biodiversity and wildlife habitats; she described the removal of hedgerow material as “vast. “
The company involved, Shem Drowne Ltd, part of the wider Coolmore organisation, pleaded guilty to four criminal offences for breaching environmental laws. Judge Deirdre Browne noted the court could have imposed fines totalling €1m for the four offences but settled on a €100, 000 fine after taking mitigating factors into account, including the guilty plea and the company having no previous convictions and being regarded as a “corporate entity of good character. ” The judge also told the court that the offences were against the whole community because landowners are “custodians of the land. “
Coolmore Fined Hedgerow Destruction: Why this case matters
The charges were not only about removed shrubs and banks; they turned on specific regulatory thresholds. Under the environmental regulations, anyone seeking to remove more than 500m of hedgerow or to create a field larger than five hectares must check with the Department of Agriculture to see if an environmental impact assessment screening report is necessary. No such screening application was made in this case, and two of the offences involved removing hedges without seeking the required screening.
The other two offences involved breaches of prohibition notices. When inspectors arrived in October 2022, two clay banks remained but were cleared of hedges. Joe Houlihan, the farm manager, was contacted and ordered to stop work and was informed that a prohibition notice would issue. At a January 2023 meeting, Houlihan asked a department inspector if he could remove the clay banks and was specifically told he could not. Yet, by an inspection in October 2023 the two clay banks had been levelled with diggers and a notice of the breach was served on the company.
Voices from the field: inspectors, activists and defence
Hedgerows Ireland, the environmental group whose complaint sparked the investigation, welcomed the convictions but expressed disappointment that the fines were not higher, saying larger penalties would act as a greater deterrent to unlawful hedgerow destruction. Photographic and video evidence shown to the court included material shot by Alan Moore and his daughter Holly Moore from Hedgerows Ireland, documenting the removal.
Senior inspector Imogen McGuinness provided the court with ecological context for the hedges and banks and highlighted their potential to regenerate if left intact. The company’s barrister, Michael Delaney, made submissions on the appropriate sentence for the four offences during the sentencing hearing.
Legal authorities described this prosecution as the first recorded in the State under European Union environmental laws for these particular offences, marking a legal milestone in how hedgerow protection is enforced.
Back in the field where machines once moved, the absence of the hedgerows still registers in the light and the wind. As the community and regulators digest the court’s decision, questions remain about deterrence, local stewardship and how historic living boundaries will be protected going forward. The €100, 000 fine resolves the immediate legal case, but for many who saw the footage and the cleared clay banks, the scene is a reminder that preservation often turns on vigilance as much as on rules — and that conversations begun in a courtroom must return to the land itself where the work of repair and responsibility continues.
