Councillors table motion to save Dublin city trees

An attempt by members of Dublin City Council to halt the destruction of the mature London Plane trees on O'Connell Street is to be made on Tuesday.

An emergency motion calling for "no further trees to be felled" as part of the O'Connell Street Area Plan has been tabled in the name of Cllr Joe Costello.

Meanwhile, the city council is to go ahead with pruning some of the trees this weekend to allow access for the construction of the millennium spire.

Mr Costello's motion will be debated by the council's 10- member Central Area Committee and if successful, will halt the removal of any more trees at least until November 15th when there is to be a meeting of the O'Connell Street Area Plan's monitoring committee.

Asked if the members had not realised that the trees were to be removed when they originally approved the O'Connell Street plan, Mr Costello said: "That bit would have been in the small print. Certainly no one realised at the time that this would result in the existing London Plane trees being removed."

It has also emerged that two of the Green Party TDs who recently chained themselves to the trees to secure their preservation were members of the city council when the plan was adopted. They were Cllr Eamon Ryan and Cllr Ciarán Cuffe.

Mr Ryan told The Irish Times it was his recollection that "no one spoke against or really debated the issue of the trees because most of the attention at the time focused on the spire". Mr Cuffe said that as soon as the issue emerged, he tabled motions beginning in February 2001 to prevent the destruction of the trees.

Mr Costello, who is due to be the next chairman of the monitoring committee, said: "We need to have a full and thorough debate on the issue before any further developments take place.

"There has been much concern expressed about the way in which these trees have been felled in such a speedy and casual manner. The trees, many of which are over 100 years old, are an integral part of the street and their removal was not given enough consideration."