Sligo County Council succeeded yesterday in getting a court injunction to prevent the former beef-processor, Mr Hugh Tunney, from cutting any more trees at his Classiebawn estate in Mullaghmore.
This follows the serving of a Tree Preservation Order on Mr Tunney in September after local people protested at tree-felling on the estate formerly owned by Lord Mountbatten.
A spokesman for Sligo County Council said the temporary injunction was sought to prevent the felling of trees which were the subject of the Tree Preservation Order in an area of the estate known as Killkilogue.
The spokesman said that after a council representative visited the area on Tuesday and saw that trees were being felled it was decided to seek the injunction.
A number of local residents have been protesting at the estate recently, and a Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Sean MacManus, had called on council officials to act.
In a statement issued yesterday evening Mr Tunney said his legal team was examining the injunction and he had not been aware of the court action being pursued by the council.
He said he had been careful to stay within the law and he had only felled "dangerous, rotten or scrub trees" as he was entitled to. Any trees cut down were outside the Tree Preservation Order, he said.
Mr Declan Bree of the Labour Party, who has supported the protests, said: "The County Development Plan classifies the woodland at Mullaghmore as visually vulnerable and states that it is the policy of the council to protect such a sensitive rural landscape."