A GANG in the west of Ireland has been stealing ash trees from farmers in order to feed the huge demand for hurleys.

Dozens of ash trees, the only wood from which hurleys can be made, have disappeared in the middle of the night from forests and farms in counties Clare and Limerick. The thieves cut out the base of the tree in order to get the hard wood used for making the sticks, leaving the rest behind. Only the bottom part of the tree is used in hurls, with each one yielding enough to make 12 sticks.

One Co Limerick farmer had 60 trees stolen one night. Another, Con Moloney, said he was shocked to discover that raiders had cut out the bottom of his 50-year-old ashes.

“It’s the last thing I expected to be stolen. You’d be watching out for mixers and hand tools, but not for a growing tree,” the Limerick farmer said.

“When I reported it to the gardai, they told me of two other cases, one in west Limerick and one in Co Clare.

“The trees were cut very specifically. Just about a metre and a half was taken and the rest left on the ground, so I knew instantly that hurleys were the only answer.”

A Garda spokesman in Bruff, Co Limerick, confirmed that it investigated another theft of 50 ash trees last year.

In a report on the theft for RTE’s Ear to the Ground programme, it’s revealed that demand for hurleys has doubled since 1990 due to a surge in the sport’s popularity. Wood is imported from Britain, Germany, Sweden and Romania because there isn’t enough Irish ash to supply the 60 manufacturers. Local ash is most popular, however, and has to be shared among the hurley-makers.

There are currently about 180,000 hurlers in Ireland, with 5,431 underage teams and 2,085 senior teams, according to the GAA. It is estimated that 350,000 hurleys are made each year, with most players going through several sticks a season.

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