Applications for tree packs close on 31 December

Ireland needs more native trees. Packs of trees for planting are now available as part of an initiative to plant one million trees in Ireland on just one day – Saturday 11 February 2017. If you are a landowner or a member of an organisation with suitable space, why not join in and order your trees – they are an ideal Christmas or New Year gift to our country, our planet, our children and future generations.

The not for profit group behind the initiative is called ‘One Million Trees in One Day’ and they provide the trees at a small charge. There are three types of tree packs that contain 50 trees per pack. There is a Woodland Pack, a Coppice Pack and a Hedge Pack and the vast bulk of the trees supplied are of native Irish provenance. Packs include appropriate mixes of oak, hazel, alder, rowan, birch, crab apple scots pine. Hawthorn and blackthorn are the main species in the Hedge Pack. Trees can be ordered online and are delivered to a location that is convenient for collecting them.

More native trees are needed; ones like the oaks overlooking Lough Muckno Castleblayney planted by Mary Robinson on a visit as President of Ireland.

The closing date for applications is midnight on Saturday, 31 December 2016. The application fee is €21.00 per pack of 50 trees and they are allocated on a first come first served basis.  Full details are available on the website at http://www.onemilliontreesinoneday.com. A radio interview with Imogen Rabone, Coordinator of One Million Trees in One Day, was broadcast on ‘Mooney Goes Wild’ on Sunday last on RTE Radio One. It can be listened back to on the programme’s website. If you order trees, please let us know at transitionmonaghan@gmail.com and we will feature County Monaghan planting projects in this column in February.

BIG REACTION TO SCREENING OF ‘ATLANTIC’ ON RTE

The excellent and hard-hitting documentary Atlantic, broadcast on RTÉ One TV on Thursday night last, highlighted the mismanagement by those in power of Ireland’s coastal resources. It also showed the devastating effect this has had – especially on coastal communities.

Atlantic follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities as they struggle to maintain their way of life
in the face of mounting economic and ecological challenges. The film charts the politics of resource management of the North Atlantic; from strong State control in Norway, mixed fortunes in Newfoundland, to a more liberal, privatised system in Ireland.

According to columnist Tom McGurk, writing in the Sunday Business Post on Sunday last, it is a “remarkable documentary … that told the story of how the EU took €184 billion worth of fish out of Irish waters, while the net EU contribution was €41 billion. Once again, our political class had got a major negotiation utterly wrong” he said.

Atlantic is narrated by Brendan Gleeson. It started out as a crowd-funding project and took five years to make. A screening of the film took place at an event in the Workhouse in Carrickmacross earlier this year. It can now be viewed on RTE Player until Saturday, 7 January.