Save The Trees in Eyre Square

national | miscellaneous | news report

Monday January 20, 2003 19:29

by Niall O Brolchain - Galway Environmental Alliance

niallob at esatclear dot ie

83 Ros Ard, Cappagh Road, Galway.

091 596680

Campaign to save 90 mature trees in Eyre Square Galway

On Tuesday 14th of January a campaign was officially launched to save 90 mature trees from being chopped down in Eyre Square in the centre of Galway City. Galway Environmental Alliance (GEA) has been waging an ongoing campaign since 1999 to save the 110 mature trees in Eyre Square from being chopped down and replaced by saplings. Only 20 are due to be retained.

On Tuesday 14th of January a campaign was officially launched to save 90 mature trees from being chopped down in Eyre Square in the centre of Galway City.
Galway Environmental Alliance (GEA) has been waging an ongoing campaign since 1999 to save the 110 mature trees in Eyre Square from being chopped down and replaced by saplings. Only 20 are due to be retained.
A number of the trees due to be chopped were planted by former mayors of Galway. The peace tree planted as a symbol of Galway City becoming a ‘nuclear free zone’ is one of the trees under threat.
Many of the existing trees were planted in honour of the late US president John F. Kennedy who gave a speech in Eyre Square in 1963, shortly before his untimely death.
Nearly 1,000 people sent written submissions to the City Council asking to incorporate the existing trees into the Eyre Square enhancement plan. These submissions have been ignored.
Hundreds of people have tied coloured ribbons around the trees in an effort to show their dissatisfaction with the plan.
There is little or no popular support in Galway for chopping down most of the remaining mature trees in the City Centre. In a survey of 500 people carried out by the GEA only 1% of people agreed with the plan to chop the trees down.
The plan was the brainchild of a former City manager and drawn up by a Dublin based consulting firm.
The campaign will continue until the Trees are Saved.