City councillor calls for tree maintenance grant for homeowners

In the wake of Storm Éowyn, a member of Cork City Councillor has proposed a grant be established to assist homeowners who have potentially dangerous trees on their properties.

Two weeks since Storm Éowyn brought record-breaking winds to Ireland and caused an estimated €200m worth of damage, thousands of people remain without electricity.

Power has so far been restored to 764,500 homes, farms, schools and businesses, but as of the weekend, approximately 3,500 people remain without supply.

The storm also caused the single greatest telecommunications outage in the history of the State, the communications regulator ComReg has said.

Hundreds of thousands of trees fell during the storm, causing considerable damage to overhead cables and property.

Peter Horgan, a Labour Party member of Cork City Council, is proposing that the Government establish a grant that would assist property owners who have trees that might pose a danger due to continued weather events weakening trees across the city and county.

Mr Horgan said that he believed that the potential for trees which property owners could not afford to trim coming down and causing damage was a grave concern.

“There needs to be considerations for assistance to homeowners who have trees that are a danger to their own property, to their neighbours or to public infrastructure,” he said.

“A simple solution would be just to cut down these trees but such a barbarous attack on biodiversity and the aesthetic nature of our communities cannot be and will not be tolerated.” He added that an assessment of tree stock in need of attention needed to be compiled.

“Mechanisms exist like when we need clearer space on our roads for the likes of public transport through hedgerow cutting requests which also includes trees.

“However, no assessment done by owners or City Hall is worthwhile unless there is some financial support, just once-off, to strengthen the tree stock across the city, to assist people to protect the tree stock where it is in their interests to do so,” Mr Horgan said.

“The new Minister for Forestry Michael Healy-Rae needs to consider supports for tree owners outside of the forestry conglomerates, those with one or two in the front or back garden.” Mr Horgan said he has put before the February meeting of Cork City Council a motion calling for a once-off grant to cover the maintenance of trees.

In the motion, Mr Horgan proposes that the council write to Mr Healy-Rae, asking that he consider such a once-off grant “that will help private property owners to maintain, not cut down, trees on their land that may pose a risk to neighbours, to infrastructure or their own property”.