Charity fundraiser in Lismore may have broken conservation laws

A local resident had said: 'Soil that was undisturbed for hundreds of years was dug out and replaced with grit over a fairly extensive area.'

Lismore's Together We Can held a Christmas festival in an area which is home to uncommon flora as blue anemone (pictured). Picture: iStock

A community group that raised funds for local charities is awaiting the outcome of an ecological study amidst concerns it may have breached conservation laws while being assisted by Waterford City and County Council (WC&CC).

Lismore's Together We Can (TWC) held an inaugural Christmas festival in an area known as ‘the Strand’ at the local Owenashad woods in 2019.

Nestling in the shadow of Lismore Castle, the woodland is leased to the council by the Castle estate and is part of the Blackwater Valley (Munster) Special Area of Conservation. It is complimented by the Owenashad river, which is a Blackwater tributary and is home to such uncommon flora as toothwort and Lismore blue anemone.

TWC expanded the ‘Santa at the Strand’ event in Christmas 2022, with local volunteers clearing foliage to construct a temporary series of fenced grottos, enclosures and stalls, along with a floating crib, animals and an imported generator to enhance music and lighting.

Waterford Council contributed lorry loads of grit for the woodland floor and new pathways. The four-day celebration attracted an estimated 4,000 visitors and raised over €20,000 for Lismore Nursing Home and Cappoquin Day Care Centre.

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Local resident Bríd Nowlan says she “cares passionately about the environment” and was “greatly disturbed” to see the habitat cleared and disrupted in 2019 and again last year.

“Soil that was undisturbed for hundreds of years was dug out and replaced with grit over a fairly extensive area”, she says. "At least six trees were damaged, some of which will inevitably die as a result and other plants would also have been impacted."

A frequent visitor to the woods, Ms Nowlan settled in Lismore five years ago, following 10 years working as an outreach and education officer for the birdwatch Audubon Society in Washington.

She says she informed the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), local councillors, and all four Waterford TDs, that no mandatory ecological assessment appeared to have been undertaken in regard to the clearing.

WC&CC says it subsequently instructed TWC to cease activities pending an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). 

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It is understood the organisers sought permission from the NPWS beforehand but received no response. An NPWS officer who visited the scene after the event agreed the work had necessitated an EIA in advance.

Amidst uncertainty around plans for the festival in 2023, over 300 locals joined a rally supporting its return.

Efforts to contact the NPWS were unsuccessful but a council statement says where an event “does not constitute works or development as defined under the Planning and Development Regulations, the consent process will be through the Birds and Habitats Regulations and for the approval of the NPWS".

The TWC committee did not comment when contacted but it has initiated an ecological assessment through the NPWS, the results of which will determine whether or not Santa visits the Strand in 2023.