Farmer fined €25,000 for destruction of ring fort

A judge has imposed a fine of €25,000 on a “modest farmer” in North Kerry for irretrievably destroying a ring fort on lands he had bought two months earlier.

Ownership of property was a right, but this right was “not unfettered” and it was qualified by the fact property was held in trust for the culture of the country, the judge warned.

Imposing the “significant penalty”, Judge Carroll Moran said he was taking into consideration a second charge of the destruction of a souterrain associated with the fort on lands occupied by John O’Mahony, aged 64, at Clashmealcon, Causeway, in Feb 2008.