Not only is the OPW committed to restoring Leinster Lawn, which backs onto Merrion Sq, but plans are afoot to reduce car parking at the front of Leinster House in Kildare St, remove the plinth, and landscape the area with trees. The displaced cars will go to an underground car-park at the back, although progress has been halted because of the Department of Finance's reluctance to release the funds. Green deputy John Gormley, ever a watchdog for the city's greenery, says the OPW has given him these assurances, provided Charlie McCreevy comes up with the readies. He has been pursuing the Leinster Lawn issue since the Tarmac went down to facilitate building work, but a new front garden is a bit of a bonus.
Meanwhile, he is keeping an eye on our trees. There are, he says, only two preservation orders on trees in Dublin. They cover some oaks in Raheny and a single tree in Kilmainham. This is all wrong, believes Gormley. The public should have to apply to fell a tree rather than apply to preserve a tree. Gormley's concern means than when trees are in danger people call him in a panic for help.
Last weekend he failed in just such a mission. The Green deputy was called out from Leinster House by business people in Dawson St who saw JCBs moving against two trees in a car-park beside the Mansion House. One was felled by the time he arrived; the other went later. But he did manage to get a promise from the Corpo, which is building offices on the site, that they will be replaced by younger trees when the work is done.
As a former Lord Mayor, Gormley is particularly wary. Just before he left the Mansion House trees were removed in the garden beside him. He was told by the Corpo it was to make way for a temporary exit to the car park at the rear and he was assured no more would be destroyed. But they were, he says, the garden vanished and the road became a permanent structure.