A Co Sligo farmer has taken a stand against trespassing after a helicopter landed in one of his fields.

Johnny Kilcullen from Enniscrone blocked the helicopter, the occupants of which were accessing a nearby boat to view a sinking ship, by parking his tractor against it with the front loader raised.

The sheep farmer said he regularly accommodates groups on his coastal land, but “what’s having is worth asking for”.

Sinking ship

On Monday 16 September, Kilcullen said he saw a helicopter doing a “recce” over Killala Bay, which his land borders.

He was aware that a former smuggling ship - the MV Shingle - was to be sunk nearby in the coming days to create an artificial reef and it would draw crowds. There is a path on Kilcullen’s land, which he gave to the community, to access the coastline.

Kilcullen had arranged to go out on a boat with his brothers to view the sinking ship on Wednesday 18 September.

Coming up to 1pm on Wednesday, Kilcullen saw the helicopter had landed in his field.

“Then didn't I see the helicopter in the field and I said 'who's this now?' Usual protocol there is, they have notified someone.

“So I just WhatsApped the brothers. No one had gotten any word. There was a Garda car there and I said 'they'll know', because you're meant to notify the guards.

“I looked around for a good while. I could see no guard around, but there were so many people, I was there three-quarters of an hour talking,” he said.

Taking a stand

Kilcullen went home to get something to eat. He then rang Ballymote Garda Station. The guard on the phone told Kilcullen 'whoever they are they have money, it’s a James Bond-type helicopter you'd see in a film'.

The farmer was subsequently put in touch with the guard on the ground in Enniscrone at the event that day.

“I asked her had they spoken to her about parking in the field and if they had, there was no problem, issue finished, gone.

“’No,’ she said, ‘they got out of the helicopter, they went down the pier straight away and got into a boat’.”

After speaking with his wife, Kilcullen decided he was going to “take a stand”. He went to get his tractor.

“I got the tractor, I could go into the field a different way, and I pulled up beside the helicopter. Now, as I was pulling up beside the helicopter, people were taking pictures straight away.

“I got out of the tractor then and I thought the helicopter might chance taking off beside the tractor, because it was under the blade. So I put the loader up in the air.

“Then I got a little sticky tab - I had it with me for writing down tag numbers - the helicopter was open and I just left it on the passenger seat of the helicopter saying, ‘give me a call’ and I left my number.”

Kilcullen spoke to the guard on the ground after doing this.

At sea

He then went off with his brothers to view the sinking ship. Just 10 minutes after he went to sea, his phone “lit up” with texts saying the helicopter couldn’t take off.

The guard contacted Kilcullen.

“She said, ‘they're telling me now that they’re filming this wreck and they are six or seven years in the process’.

“I said, ‘if it is, tell them pop-up the back window of the tractor, get into it and they can push it out of the way.’ They pushed it out of the way.

“The helicopter just came out on the bay and did one circle of filming, just as the ship was sinking. Then I went later on that night when things quietened down, I went to collect my tractor and brought it home.”

Respect

Speaking on the issue, Kilcullen said he is not against people coming on to his land, but it is a matter of respect to ask beforehand can you use it.

He said he regularly accommodates groups, such as the Scouts camping. There were also store lambs in the field at the time the helicopter landed.

"What's worth having is worth asking for. It doesn't matter how much money you have, you have to have common sense.

“We have a business there in Enniscrone - Kilcullen Bathhouses - for 120 years - if they just rang them, it was enough. If they rang someone at the pub, someone in the town. We're well known in the town and we facilitate everyone all the time.”

Kilcullen said if the group contacted him again, he would let them land in his field, so long as they asked beforehand.