St Vincent's GAA tree planting ‘a win for everyone’

St Vincent’s GAA has planted more than 120 trees at their northside facility as part of ongoing climate action plans, with a local councillor saying the project was “a win for everyone”.

While researching the best species to plant, the treasurer of St Vincent’s and Sinn Féin councillor for the city’s North West ward, Kenneth Collins, contacted Maria Young from Green Spaces for Health — another recipient of the Community Climate Action Fund.

“I knew our club would be a great site for trees, but I didn’t know what to plant,” said Mr Collins. “I met Maria through the community climate leadership meetups and found out from her that there are schools and communities across the city growing saplings.

“The saplings needed homes, and we had land to plant them in, so it was a win for everyone, including nature and climate.” 

Funded by Cork City Council’s Community Climate Action Fund, the GAA club has also upgraded internal lighting in their club building.

Ms Young said that many different parts of the community were involved in the project: “There is a wonderful interconnectedness in our process this year.

“The acorns were collected from two Cork city trees by local school children. They were planted in the specialised boxes by school communities across the city, then potted on and minded by them for two years.

“Now more hands are planting them out. The amount of people involved is wonderful.”

Helping hands were also provided by a team from Wilton-based web and digital marketing company, Revolution, marking the second year of working with Green Spaces for Health.

The group were up first thing in the morning, picking up the saplings from the tree nurseries and bringing them to the St Vincent’s site.

The owner and founder of the company, Matt Sroka, said that community collaboration was key to climate action: “We can make a greener future one tree at a time, but it takes a city working together to grow a community that can act for climate.”

Next week is National Tree Week 2025, and over 20 community groups will be taking part in further planting.