Laois locals go green in tree planting initiative

Laois locals have been out in force planting trees surrounding the HSE's St Fintan's Campus in Portlaoise.

Local community groups such as Portlaoise Tidy Towns, Laois Volunteer Centre and Portlaoise Lion's Club have been working with the HSE to plant over 4,000 native Irish trees on the campus.

The campus has been included in a HSE biodiversity initiative pilot programme, with the native trees kindly donated by Brian Gaynor of Green Pine Consultants.

Blackthorn, whitethorn, rowan and crab apple trees are among those planted on the campus.

Pictured: Volunteers were out at 10am on Friday to spend the day planting trees

"Through our project of planting native trees around Portlaoise, we work closely with Brian Gaynor," said Vincent Booth, Chairman of Portlaoise Tidy Towns Committee.

"This culminated last year when we won the National Tree Project Award at the Tidy Towns Awards for our work," he said.

"A lot of what we do is about bringing native hedging and trees back and improving the biodiversity in the town, for people's mental and physical wellbeing, and for the overall appearance of the town," Mr Booth explained.

"Planting a tree is the simplest thing you can do to protect out environment. Anyone can do it, and you are doing amazing work in removing carbon dioxide by doing so. We encourage people to carry out these small actions, because they all add up," Mr Booth finished.

Pictured: Mr Vincent Booth, Chairperson of Portlaoise Tidy Towns Committee

Portlaoise Tidy Towns have ongoing yearly projects, including a free tree giveaway on March 8 in partnership with Laois PPN.

Deputy Community Services manager in Laois Primary Care Services, Mr Colm Dunne, praised the work done by volunteers on the St Fintan's Campus.

"There is planting underway all around the unit, with another day of planting to take place next week," Mr Dunne said.

The previous hedgerows were taken out as they were an invasive species. This project is focused on the biodiversity of the campus, and we are managing the grasslands in a more diverse form.

Pictured: Volunteers planting trees on the campus

"The green team here in St Fintan's have promoted a lot of this work, with great help from our colleagues on a national level," he said.

"We have to thank the various voluntary groups from around the town: Portlaoise Lions Club, Laois Volunteers, and Portlaoise Tidy Towns. It is a campus that is widely used by the public for leisure purposes, people are always around here walking," Mr Dunne said.

Pictured: Mr Niall Fitzpatrick and Mr Colm Dunne

"It's about managing the campus in a greener and friendlier way. There is an energy awareness within the buildings, and we were chosen for the pilot project based on the nature of the campus, being a green area in an urban area. Green therapy has a huge focus here," he said.

"The plan is to put in fruit trees for staff and patients," Mr Dunne said.

"Mental health services operate with their clients, it's green therapy. That compliments everything that goes on here, and there will be open days to sell fruit. It's great because its open to the wider public," he finished.

In 2024, hedges were removed from the site to make way for the development of an overflow carpark.

Mr Niall Fitzpatrick, Maintenance Officer at St Fintan's Campus, explained that this work was a necessity.

"The clearing works took place last year, with the development going on up on the right will be a staff car park to allow the public to park around the hospital," he said.

"That necessitated the removal of the hedges. Our purpose is to come back with native Irish hedging to be more eco friendly and more biodiverse. We have a shelter belt to plant on the right hand side. We planted trees last year but there were some losses with it, so were just filling gaps," he said.

"We have planted on the Stradbally road side of the campus too. We have had so many people working on this project that we wouldn't have been able to do without," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

Watch: Trees cut down in Portlaoise to make way for car park

Pictured: Ms Catríona Ryan of Laois Volunteer Centre

Catriona Ryan with Laois Volunteer Centre praised the hard work of volunteers involved, and encouraged others to consider voluntary work.

"We have aa great team here, from staff to service users and other community groups," Ms Ryan said.

"It's all part of wellbeing for everyone, and for the biodiversity of native fauna and flora. We are all about promoting volunteering and volunteerism, while having fun," she said.

"There are so many benefits to volunteering, and you can see it here. It's the act of giving and interacting with one another, it's so important.

"That's a forgotten aspect of volunteering in our busy lives these days, but if you have an hour to spare its a two way street. you give as much as you get back," she said.

Read More: Free Tree Giveaway in Laois this month