A judge has convicted and fined a Tipperary farmer €1,000 for shooting and killing two swans.

On Thursday 5 January at Nenagh District Court, Thomas Hogan, of Kylebeg, Borrisokane, was convicted for killing the swans on his lands at Ashley Park, Ardcrony, Co Tipperary, on 21 March 2021.

The case had previously been in court last June, when Mr Hogan pleaded guilty to breaching Section 22 of the Wildlife Act.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by an Garda Siochána with assistance from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

Sgt Regina McCarthy outlined the facts of the case, with the NPWS conservation ranger explaining the legal options that would have been available to Mr Hogan to address the issue of flocks of swans grazing his farmland.

Judge John King gave the farmer six months to pay the fine handed down.

Mute swans

Mute swans are present all year in Ireland and can be joined by flocks of migratory whooper swans, which travel from Iceland to Ireland in autumn, overwintering here in the relatively mild climate before returning to Iceland to breed in spring, according to the NPWS.

Swans will often feed on improved grassland fields near water bodies, it said, adding that these feeding areas are a vital part of the swan’s lifecycle.

All birds in Ireland are protected under the Wildlife Acts 1976 to 2018.