DUBLIN CITY Council has been criticised for felling trees in Synge Street without notifying residents in advance or explaining why it was being done.
Michael McLoughlin, managing director of Penguin Ireland, said one of his fellow residents was “so upset by what’s happening that she’s been in tears all morning”.
As the first of eight elms was felled, Mr McLoughlin contacted the Garda and the council’s public relations office to complain. The Garda said they could do nothing.
A council official said the elms, thought to be 30 years old, were being felled because of complaints that their roots were damaging basements.
“It turned out that one resident complained, and that was it”, Mr McLoughlin said. “The only notice we got said the trees would be pruned. There was no mention of felling.” The official who visited the site explained that the elms had deep spreading roots and, if they were not felled, the problem would get worse.
Mr McLoughlin asked about replacement trees, but the official said the earliest they could be planted would be early 2012.
A council spokeswoman confirmed there were “complaints” and the matter was mentioned at the council’s area committee on April 12th and agreed by councillors. In such circumstances, residents “don’t have to be notified”, she said.