Information board blasted with a shotgun and land cut up by scrambler bikes among 34 vandalism cases reported by National Parks and Wildlife Service

Ten of the incidents are the subject of ongoing criminal investigations

Graffiti at the Octagon in the Glen of the Downs, Co Wicklow

Ken Foxe

An information board blasted with a shotgun, an old well severely damaged with stones left strewn around, and land cut up by scrambler bikes were some of the incidents of vandalism in Irish national parks and conservation areas over the past two years.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said they had logged 34 cases where parks, natural heritage areas, or special protection areas were damaged deliberately by visitors.

Details of 10 of the incidents have been withheld by the NPWS, who said they were the subject of ongoing criminal investigations.

The Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow was a hotspot for anti-social activity with multiple incidents of illegal dumping, graffiti, damage to gates, and vandalism of its Octagon building after a €280,000 conservation project.

At Mullyvea, Co Donegal, an interpretive board was blasted with lead shot some time last autumn, according to the log of incidents provided by the NPWS.

Another interpretive board was stolen from the Duntally Wood Nature Reserve, also in Donegal, a few months earlier.

There were five separate incidents at the Coole Park Nature Reserve in Gort, Co Galway, with precise details of one case redacted from the records.

On three separate occasions in quick succession, there was deliberate damage to men’s toilets on the site. In another incident, the padlock and door on a bird-hide was forced and broken, while two historic structures in the reserve were also vandalised.

The NPWS said an old well was damaged with removed stones discarded all around the area while a limekiln was also defaced, with keystones removed from a wall and thrown into nearby woodland.

In Letterkeen, in the Wild Nephin National Park in Co Mayo, there were two cases of deliberate damage in February this year. One saw a wooden footbridge damaged, while on the same date land was torn up by off-road vehicles which crossed a river in the park.

Other incidents logged by the NPWS included damage to land by scramblers in the Slieve Bloom special area of conservation and damage to fencing at illegal bike jumps in Knocksink Wood, Co Wicklow.

There were five separate cases of “damage or vandalism” reported at Boora, Co Offaly, between March 2023 and February of this year, but no details of these were provided.

The NPWS said: “These matters are part of a criminal investigation, and it is not in the public interest to disclose this information.”

Specific details of an incident at Timahoe Esker Nature Reserve in Laois, two cases at Ballyteigue National Nature Reserve in Wexford, and one at Wild Nephin National Park were also withheld by the NPWS.