Farmer fined €25,000 for demolishing a ring fort on his own land

Do you have a suspicious looking circle shape on your land? If so, you might want to leave it alone because if you attempt to destroy it, you could be landed with a massive fine like this guy…

RTE reports that a farmer has been dealt a €25,000 fine at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee for destroying a 1,000 year old ring fort that was a protected national monument. Uh-oh…

The case is the first prosecution of its kind to come before the Irish courts. We’re not sure why there wasn’t any notification about destroying ring forts given to people before this. Maybe the Government just assumed we’d all be too afraid to go near them just in case we were attacked by some unruly fairies…

John O’Mahony pleaded guilty to carrying out work on the fort in his land during February 2008 without giving any notice to the National Monuments Service. According to reports, the farmer hired workers to help him demolish the majority of the ring fort. The material was then used to fill in a pond. It’s still technically a national monument, only it’s been moved slightly and thrown into a big, watery hole…

The court was told that the restoration of the fort wasn’t possible. They also heard that Mr O’Mahony knew of the existence of the ring fort because had had previously objected to a planning application at the spot, on the ground that the land contained a ring fort that was historic.

Mr O’Mahony apologised and Judge Carroll Moran gave him a hefty fine or €25,000.

It is unknown if any fairies were killed in the demolition…