The developers of a controversial housing scheme in the Gaeltacht village of Spiddal have denied that they breached planning legislation in advance of a Bord Pleanála ruling.
Damien Bergin of Hyberg Development Ltd confirmed to The Irish Times that land owned by his company at Bothuna, Spiddal, Co Galway, was drained last week, but "no development work" was carried out.
However, Galway County Council has confirmed that it sent an enforcement officer to the property, but "work had stopped". The Department of Agriculture's forestry section is also compiling a report on alleged illegal tree-felling, under the 1946 Forestry Act.
Local primary schoolteacher Ruaidhrí Ó Bearra said several trees were felled when the drainage work was carried out last week. He said the local authority was unable to send an inspector until a day after the work started. The council said no enforcement order was issued as the "work had stopped" when it carried out its inspection.
Mr Bergin said no trees were cut but some gorse and scrub was removed. There were plans to remove some trees that were unsafe, he said.
The land formerly owned by Lord Killanin, which Hyberg bought for more than €1 million, was the subject of a Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Irish last December.
The developers appealed planning approval granted for the 17-house scheme due to Irish language-use conditions attached, while residents appealed on both environmental and linguistic grounds.
Under the Galway county development plan, which aims to protect the linguistic and cultural heritage of the State's largest Gaeltacht, developers must sign up to legal agreements to restrict use, including rental, of new housing schemes to occupants with an appropriate competency or fluency in Irish.
Mr Ó Bearra said a fundamental reappraisal of planning legislation was required if developers could conduct work before full approval had been given. "It seems that everything in this country is developer-led," he said.
An Bord Pleanála is expected to issue its decision next week.
