Five Years on, Residents Urge Action to Remove Tree Stumps in Phibsborough

Phibsborough residents have been calling for Dublin City Council to remove three large tree stumps on Geraldine Street that have been left untouched for five years. 

It was on 16 January 2020 that local residents were shocked to discover the trees cut down outside their homes.  

“I’ve lived in the area for the last three years now, and I genuinely don’t understand why they can’t just be replaced,” local resident Bronagh O’Dowd said. “They’re even annoying to look at now.”                                                                 

Remains of a tree in Geraldine Street. Photo: Isobel Levins  

“I can understand the whole process might take a while to remove them, but five years is pushing it a bit too far in my opinion,” O’Dowd said.

Local resident Johnathan Healy told the Dublin Inquirer he had been informed by local councillors that new trees would be planted in three to five years. 

In a public statement, the council said that the old roots would need to rot in order for a long-awaited stump removal. 

“I just can’t believe it takes five years,” Healy told the Dublin Inquirer. “Five years is a long time to be looking at a stump.” 

Another Geraldine Street stump. Photo: Isobel Levins  

Tree troubles are not limited to the Northside.

Conor Humphries of Tree for Tenters, which works for tree planting and preservation in that Dublin 8 neighbourhood, said the group accepts the need to cut down trees, but wants a guaranteed approach from the council to replace them. 

“We got the impression that they weren’t really keen on replacing them,” Humphries said. 

A council official told a Phibsborough resident that the trees on Geraldine Street were cut down due to the visible damage which appeared on the trunks over time.