A DONEGAL County Councillor today launched a scathing attack on the National Parks and Wildlife Service – saying their protection of the Corncrake is killing communities.
Cllr Seamus O Domhnaill said six Special Protection Areas on the islands and in Fanad and Inishowen were severely restricting the lives of local people.
And he said the moves were pointless because “corncrakes only spend four to six months a year here in Donegal and then they go off to Libya where they are shot willy-nilly and served up as delicacies in Libyan restaurants.”
The councillor had a motion before today’s council meeting hitting out at the protection areas.
Farmers, he said, needed permission every time they wanted to grow a crop.
Planning permission for homes was ‘impossible’ he claimed.
He was supported by Cllr Marie Therese Gallagher who said the special protection areas were ‘mad’ and was an example of EU policies ‘gone mad’.
Cllr O Domhnaill said that unless the Government reverse the designations “we might as well close the doors.”
