Uproar as vandals target award winning Co Longford village

A number of trees, some of which were planted by local schoolchildren, were targeted over the past number of weeks much to the ire of locals.

Two of the village's three newly planted crab apples trees on the grounds of the Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre were found to have been snapped in half, leaving local Tidy Towns activists unsure if the trees will be able to recover from the damage.

Ann Gerety Smyth, co-owner of the Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre expressed her dismay at the damage. 

"New life in one of the village’s green spaces, which is used by residents and visitors alike, was a lovely surprise and I'm perplexed that anyone would feel the need to destroy newly
planted trees," she said.

That revelation came just as it emerged a second batch of trees had fallen foul of vandalism with a number planted by St Mel's National School likewise being targeted.

"They were planted as part of a school project about climate change and to complement the wildflowers that have successfully bloomed," said Ann.

It was also hoped the trees would provide extra stability to the ground and protect the new AstroTurf pitch from soil runoff but with the trees having been uprooted and removed, Francesca Pawelczyk, Ardagh Preservation Society Secretary and Longford Public Participation Network (PPN) Environmental Representative, likewise hit out.

“It must have been awful for the children to see their hard work and intentions so needlessly destroyed.”

“We are in the midst of an environmental and climate crisis and trees play vital roles in ecosystem services. People doing what they can to protect the futures of our children and our planet for it to be met with ignorance and destruction is appalling and unacceptable.”

Prior to the two most recent alleged acts of vandalism, a sign for the Ardagh Neighbourhood Park was forcibly taken down. 

It's understood the incidents have been reported to gardaí.