The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is planning to remove a deer fence which is located within Connemara National Park.
The 8.3km fence was constructed over a period of 30 years, beginning in the early 1980s.
However, the NPWS has said that the deer fence is no longer required and is in a bad state of repair.
It added that the removal of the deer fence will help improve ecosystem function; community diversity; vegetation composition; vegetation structure; and, physical structure of protected habitats within the site.
NPWS
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which oversees the NPWS, is now seeking tenders from service providers for a 12-month contract to remove the fencing in the national park.
According to tender documents, the overall estimated value of the contract is €150,000, excluding VAT.
The contract has been divided into six lots with varying lengths of the fence to be removed.
The NPWS will provide helicopter lifts to assist in the removal of material from the site.
It is noted that the project will involve working in a peatland environment which can lead to difficult or challenging terrain to operate in.
The closing date for receipt of tenders is 4:00p.m on June 12, 2024.
Connemara National Park
Connemara National Park, which is among Ireland’s eight national parks, covers some 2,000ha of scenic mountains, expanses of bogs, heaths, grasslands and woodlands in the northwest of Co. Galway.
Some of the park’s mountains, Benbaun, Bencullagh, Benbrack and Muckanaght, are part of the famous Twelve Bens or Beanna Beola range.
Opened to the public in 1980, the park includes lands that once formed part of the Kylemore Abbey Estate, the Letterfrack Industrial School, and the private property of Richard ‘Humanity Dick’ Martin, who helped to form the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).