Taoiseach behind push to plant more trees
The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is urging people to become more tree-conscious for the good of future generations.
Mr Ahern wants us to continue to plant more trees throughout Ireland, as they help prevent natural disasters, such as the recent mudslides in the Philippines.
Today he is launching National Tree Week which runs from March 5 to 11.
The Taoiseach stated that it is critical we ensure that deforestation does not become a problem here.
Mr Ahern said: “We’ve moved from a position where we had only 1% of our countryside covered in forests, now we’re up to 10%.
"It’s hugely important from an environment point of view.
“Last year was a year of disasters and trees can do so much to prevent that.
"Deforestation does such a huge amount of environmental damage and the whole effort is to improve the environment, which is probably one of the crucial things that we can do for the future,” he said.
