Funding still not provided to fell dangerous trees

Members of Mayo County Council have complained that work to remove dangerous overhanging and damaged trees along roadsides is not being carried out.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne and Cllr Donna Sheridan both raised the issue at last week's council meeting and demanded to know why it was that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage had not replied to a request from the council for funding to carry out the necessary remedial works.

Director of Services Tom Gilligan said correspondence had been sent to each of the municipal districts to ask members to identify trees they felt were not safe, which engineers could then visit and assess visually. However, it was "a complex issue" as many of the trees are situated on private lands where the onus to remove them falls on the landowner.

Cllr Donna Sheridan said each district should identify the trees needing removal so that an application could be sent to the Department for funding specific works. Mr Gilligan said he could “certainly look to have that done”. 

Cllr Kilcoyne wanted to know why the Department was “not answering our correspondence” and proposed that the council invite the five Mayo TDs into the chamber and ask them to make representations "on our behalf”. However, he later added: “You are wasting your time with our five TDs.” 

Council chief executive Kevin Kelly interjected: “My understanding is it is being collated by the Department across all the authorities. It will take time for that money to come through and generally it happens at the end of the year, so I would not be perturbed it has not come through yet.”