A local Donegal historian has raised concerns about damage caused by scrambler bikes to one of the most important hill forts in the north-west of Ireland.
The hilltop fort known as An Grianán of Aileach sits between Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly with a stone fort structure thought to have been built in the 9th century.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One programme, Dessie McCallion said that human activity at the site can be traced back to the neolithic period.
"So, you're talking about 6,000 years of continued use of the hill. The ring fort itself is right smack in the middle of a much older structure, a Neolithic hill fort. I suppose the best description would be an Iron Age ring fort in a neolithic setting," he said.
He said that the site gets thousands of visitors annually and is on the "bucket list" for many European tourists.
Mr McCallion said that the site had recently been damaged by the use of scrambler bikes.
"The damage consists of powered bikes, you might call them scramblers or electric e-bikes and stuff like that. And pretty much due to the wet, very wet conditions we've had recently, they tore up the grass. Very unsightly, mud splattered everywhere," he said.
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In a statement, gardaí said they "received a report of an incident where damage was caused to a green area at Grianán of Aileach sometime between 1pm on 6 March and 2:15pm on 9 March".
Mr McCallion said that the Office of Public Works would have to repair the site, and re-sod and re-seed some areas.
"But we'd like to ask people to have better respect for it. The people who did that, these individuals, wouldn't do it to their soccer pitch, they wouldn't do it to their GAA grounds.
"So, I'd ask them to have a bit of respect for this because it's a people place, and it's dependent on people coming and respecting it, and making room for others," added Mr McCallion.
