The last 10 mature trees on O'Connell Street, Dublin, are almost certain to face destruction following a dramatic U-turn in public support for their preservation.
The results of the public consultation process, yet to be published, on the redevelopment of the street found a majority were in favour of the council's plans to remove the trees, The Irish Times has learned.
This represents a marked change in public opinion from when the council began felling the London Plane trees, some more than 100-years-old, in November 2002.
Numerous representations were made to the council and public representatives demanding their retention. A number of Green Party TDs chained themselves to the trees in an attempt to stop the felling.
The council agreed to continue the first phase of the street improvement works without destroying any more trees, leaving 10 trees remaining at the northern end of the street.
While a number of city councillors, including the Lord Mayor, Mr Michael Conaghan have spoken against the council's plans, public opinion seems to support the views of city management.
"The results of the public consultation would indicate that a majority, an healthy majority, are in favour of the new O'Connell Street plans," the area manager for the project, Mr Paul Maloney, said.
Mr Maloney said he could not give exact details of the percentage in favour of the new plans, or the exact number of submissions to the public consultation process because the information had not yet been furnished to the councillors.
He said the city management was "extremely pleased" with the public's response. The change in attitude was in part due to the positive reaction to the first phase of the redevelopment at the southern half the street and outside the GPO, he said.
By the time the improvement works are completed, the number of trees on the street will have risen from 62 to 156.
However, Mr Mooney stressed: "The removal of the trees would be the left to the very last stage, probably around February 2006, so there's no need to make a decision on it yet. Nobody will be allowed to touch them until then."
