Coillte working with Gardaí to protect Slieve Bloom mountain trails - Nolan

The state’s forestry agency, Coillte, has confirmed to Offaly Independent TD Carol Nolan that its local management staff have been in contact with An Garda Síochana as part of enforcement efforts aimed at protecting the Slieve Bloom mountain bike trails.

Coillte was responding to representations on the matter from the Independent TD who recently highlighted the damage that is being caused to the trails from the illegal use of off-road scrambler motorcycles, quad bikes and other all-terrain vehicles.

“I am delighted to see that Coillte is committed to adopting a very firm policy on this matter and that it is continuing to liaise with the Gardai to deter the use of these unauthorised vehicles on the Slieve Bloom mountain bike trail network.

“For its part, Coillte has made it explicitly clear that while it has developed a series of bye-laws which outline and specify activities which are not permitted on Coillte lands unless specifically authorised under licence, this does not apply to scramblers, quad bikes and the other all-terrain vehicles that are the source of the problem.

“I appreciate that the agency does rely on An Garda Síochana for enforcement of these bye-laws and that is why I will be working to ensure that our Gardaí have sufficient resources available to them to enable the kind of routine enforcement that we need to see happen to protect this valuable local resource from further levels of deterioration,” Deputy Nolan said.