A municipal council said that employees of the Mayo County Council damaged private property as he fell to Storm Éowyn.
Cllr Michael Loftus said he received the correspondence that the Council's employees dropped trees into fields and destroyed cables and fences on the way down. He said the affected landowners are concerned that they will be responsible if the fake trees cause further damage.
“They fear that the trees will be blown back with another storm. I would like to mark the cards of the Council that they would be responsible for all damage caused,” he said in Ballina Municipal District meeting last week.
The Council's leading executive engineer, Orla Bourke, said she would learn more about these cases because they were very unlikely.
“The council would not deliberately damage someone else's property,” she said. “In any case, the trees remain the responsibility of the landowners.”