Council staff damaged fences when felling trees, claims councillor

A local councillor has claimed that staff from Mayo County Council caused damage to private property while felling trees after Storm Éowyn.

Cllr Michael Loftus said he received correspondence that council staff dropped trees into fields, breaking wires and fences on their way down. He said the affected landowners are worried they will be responsible if the felled trees cause further damage.

“They are worried the trees will be blown back out with another storm. I want to mark the cards of the council that they would be responsible for any damage that is caused,” he told last week's Ballina Municipal District meeting.

The council's senior executive engineer Orla Bourke said she would be interested in finding out more about these cases as they sounded very unlikely to have occurred.

“The council wouldn’t willfully cause damage to anyone’s property,” she said. “Either way, the trees remain the responsibility of  landowners."