COOLMORE company Shem Drowne Ltd has been fined €100,000 following the destruction of historic hedgerows, after a hearing at Clonmel Circuit Court on Friday. Judge Deirdre Browne ordered the company to pay the fine within two months.

The company, whose directors are Conor Spain and David Gleeson, pleaded guilty last December to four charges brought by the Department of Agriculture relating to the destruction of more than 1,150 metres of “historic hedgerows”.

During a hearing earlier this week, lawyers representing Coolmore asked the Circuit Court not to apply the maximum possible penalty of €250,000 for each of the four environmental breaches.

Judge Browne heard submissions from the company’s barrister, Michael Delaney, on the appropriate sentence for the offences, which are the first recorded in the State under European Union environmental laws.

Under the regulations, anyone seeking to remove more than 500 metres of hedgerow or to create fields larger than five hectares (12.4 acres) must first contact the Department to determine whether an environmental screening report is required.

The prosecution followed complaints made by Hedgerows Ireland, an environmental organisation based in Co Tipperary that has previously criticised Coolmore’s removal of hedgerows after purchasing farmland.

The offences occurred at Ballygerald East, south of Cashel, in 2022 and 2023 on land purchased in the names of J.P. Magnier and Kate Wachman, two children of John Magnier.

Michael Delaney, barrister for Coolmore, told the court on Wednesday that the defendant company “deeply regrets the failings that led to the breaches”.

He said the company had made donations of €15,000 each to the Native Woodland Trust and the Society of St Vincent de Paul as a gesture following the incidents.

Since then, Coolmore has introduced new internal procedures requiring any proposed hedgerow removal to undergo external assessment, he said.

He also told the court that several screening applications submitted by Coolmore to the Department since 2023 had not been approved and that the company had respected those decisions.

Mr Delaney submitted a 29-page report prepared by John Corbett, Coolmore’s sustainable agriculture manager, which concluded that “Coolmore is a biodiverse haven for nature”.

In mitigation, he said the company had no previous offences, had co-operated with inspectors from the department and was part of the wider Coolmore group.