MINISTER RICHARD BRUTON TD, FRANCES FITZGERALD T.D. & MARK DURKAN JOIN CHILDREN PLANTING OVER 14,000 TREES IN CLIMATE ACTION GLOBAL INITIATIVE IN CLONTARF
“It’s Easy Treesie”, agreed the children of Belgrove National Schools today as they planted a native silver birch tree in their school grounds with Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton TD, Frances Fitzgerald T.D. & Mark Durkan European Parliament candidates today. Why only one tree? Despite several surveys by the school green committee only one small space was to be found available for tree-planting on the school grounds.
So how were the children to join in this national initiative to plant one tree for each of Ireland’s million school children? Fortunately, the local Clontarf Hospital came to the rescue. Children had noticed on their walks to school that the hedgerow bordering the hospital and the road had room for more trees as many of the existing rowan, elder and hawthorn trees had been damaged in recent storms. Today a team from Belgrove did a “Feet first Friday” exercise, walking the ten minutes to the hedgerow in need of a cure where they set to work planting native saplings, one per child.
Minister Richard Bruton TD said ‘Planting trees absorbs carbon. It can play an important role tackling Climate Disruption in a real and meaningful way. I am delighted to join Easy Treesie and Belgrove National Schools to plant 30 trees in Clontarf Hospital. I would like to congratulate Orla on reaching over 14,000 trees planted since our first tree planting back in 2017. They will hopefully still be standing in 30 years time.’
“We are delighted to welcome this initiative, which will be of lasting benefit to our hospital community and local neighbours”, said hospital CEO Michelle Fanning, who organized tree-themed fruit snacks to thank the children and volunteer supporters when they had finished their planting party. Research shows that patients who look out on a green landscape experience a faster recovery and this is no surprise. The new trees will help screen the hospital from traffic noise and fumes on the busy road as well as giving extra privacy to the patients in this recently upgraded facility. They will also improve biodiversity in the area, sustaining a range of bird and insect species.
“The Easy Treesie project is delighted to welcome Minister Bruton back to plant his third tree with us. We also welcome Frances Fitzgerald T.D. and Mark Durkan and thank her for her support for the children who are displaying such good global citizenship today, supporting UN and EU climate goals. This will be the 14,004th tree planted by the project since Minister Bruton planted a small oak on the week of our planting event in 2017” said Orla Farrell, Easy Treesie project leader. Trees have planted stretching from Enniskillen’s Rotary Forest to Cork’s Harper’s Island Wetland Centre and from Robswalls Park Malahide to Ransboro, Sligo. Schools such as Gaelscoil Bhaile Munna have already planted a tree for every pupil in their school as part of the target of planting 1,000,000 trees – one for each schoolchild in Ireland.
Minister Bruton praised the Tidy Towns and Residents’ Associations, the business and volunteer communities and Local Authorities across the country who have provided support for the children in this Climate Action initiative.
A very special thank you to Oracle volunteer and pilot-in-training Sam Wilson who is carrying out logistical and tech support for our project. Sam is doing a carbon offset on his fuel used in his flying training. He started by sponsoring pear trees in a Dublin school and went on to serious supports such as driving carloads of tools and equipment across town in the pre-dawn dark and before the rush hour to Shankill, Finglas and country locations. He has taken on organisation of volunteers at our planting parties and film making sessions for TV3 and with Emmy-nominated Kate Bradbury’s short film for us. We are so grateful, Sam!
ENDS
Editor’s note:
The “Easy Treesie” initiative is organised under the auspices of the charity Crann, founded in 1986 with the aim of “Re-leafing” Ireland.
The “Easy Treesie” initiative is part of the UN sponsored “Plant-for-the-Planet” programme inspired by the late teacher and Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathai and aims to plant 1 trillion trees globally.
The Community Foundation for Ireland is providing further support to this endeavour. The charity acknowledges the support of Coillte who has donated thousands of native saplings to the project.
Children in over 100 countries have come together to tackle climate change through the symbolic and practical means of planting a tree in their locality.
Further information on the initiative may be found at www.easyTreesie.com .
INQUIRIES: Orla Farrell orla@easytreesie.com
Easy Treesie 