Donadea Forest car park to remain closed for weeks

Cars will not be able to access Donadea Forest Park for another two and a half weeks, until June 8. This is for health and safety reasons related to work being undertaken at the park, according to a Coillte spokesperson.

"A tree harvesting operation continues at the Park which has been previously communicated to community groups, elected representatives and local residents. The operation, while not removing a large volume of timber, is spread over a significant area and takes in many sections of the walking routes through the park. The main extent of the tree felling involves removing conifer trees which will be replaced with Irish Oak and Scot’s Pine trees, and thinning out of other conifer trees through the forest park. 

"A number of our staff visited Donadea on Friday to examine the remaining sections of the harvesting operation and reached a decision that, in the interests of public safety and given the remaining sections to be felled, the continued closure of the car park is the right decision. The park remains open to local residents who may access the park on foot if they reside within the current 5km radius as directed by the Government’s Covid-19 restrictions.

"The decision was taken to balance the need to get the forest operation finished as quickly as possible, to reopen the Park fully to car/ vehicle access, the proximity of the operation to many walking trails and the continuing public travel restriction of 5km on exercise until June 8.

"The trail surfaces through the harvested area will be upgraded once the timber is removed from the site, to the current high standard seen throughout the Park."