Cutting down trees near power lines to prepare for future storms “makes zero sense”, one of Ireland’s leading environmentalists has said. 

During Storm Éowyn, a number of trees fell on power lines - causing prolonged outages for thousands. 

Yesterday, Clare County Council endorsed calls for trees close to power lines to be cut back but farmer Eoghan Dalton passionately believes this would be a mistake. 

Workers restoring power in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. Photo: Eamonn Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

“Ireland is one of the most treeless countries in all of Europe to begin with - bar Iceland,” he told Moncrieff. 

“We’ve gone from an original estimated tree cover of around 80% of the island of Ireland down to only 1% now. 

“Add into that a huge amount of what tree cover we have left runs along the sides of roads as hedgerows, it means we’d go from an already pitiful amount of natural woodland and tree cover down to even less.” 

Trees in County Antrim. Picture by: PA

Mr Dalton said people need to “take a step back” and think about why Ireland experienced such a powerful storm. 

“[It] is what’s known as climate breakdown,” he said. 

“The collapse of a stable climate is being caused by humans pumping massive quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. 

“It’s also being caused by the loss of natural ecosystems which naturally sequester vast amounts of carbon down out of the air and also regulate the climate in all sorts of other equally important ways.

“By getting rid of trees, we’re actually adding to the problem.”  

Mr Dalton said there are in fact “intelligent alternatives” to chopping down trees and suggested power lines be buried instead.

Main image: A worker restoring power in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. Picture by: Eamonn Farrell/© RollingNews.ie