Thanks for Council action on old oak

Kildare County Council is getting kudos for the authority's prompt action in protecting Kilcullen's oldest tree from damage during Water Services works in the Cattle Mart field, writes Brian Byrne.

When it was brought to the Council's attention that the route of the works could have damaged the root system of the more than 200 years old oak, the engineers swiftly changed the line of the pipes.

"They have now put a full exclusion zone around the tree area," says Tony Gahan, on whose property boundary the tree stands. "My wife Geraldine and I are very grateful to them for protecting the tree, which is registered with the Tree Council of Ireland and was probably growing here at the time of the Rising in 1798. Alan Dunny from the Council was very prompt and helpful and fully supportive of our efforts to protect what he said was 'a truly magnificent tree'."