Robbie’s leaves grab international attention
COUNCILLOR Robbie Ireton found himself at the centre of national media attention last week, when his comments at this month’s Gorey District meeting on Gorey’s ‘massive’ leaves problem attracted much online comment.
The interest stemmed from a report in last week’s Gorey Guardian in which Robbie was reported as saying the leaves on the main street trees ‘are not normal sized leaves. The amount of people slipping on them is unreal. ‘ To me it’s a health and safety problem.’
The story was picked up by several websites including joe.ie which ran with the headline ‘ This, from The Gorey Guardian in Wexford, is the reason why we love local newspapers.’ By Friday, the story had been shared almost 3,000 times. The writer commented that it wouldn’t be long before RTÉ sent Teresa Mannion down to investigate.
The story attracted a lot of bemused comments on social media, and was also picked up by the UK-based Facebook page ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ which said ‘Big news coming out of the Republic of Ireland. Our prayers go out to the people of Gorey.’ It went on to be mentioned by Ray D’Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1, Anton Savage on Today FM and others, and featured in several national newspapers.
Reacting to the attention, Robbie said that most of the people who contacted him had agreed with him, and he insisted that several people had fallen on the leaves. ‘ They’re okay when it’s dry,’ he said. ‘When it’s wet, they get soggy and slippy.’
He maintained that the trees should be replaced with more suitable mature trees. ‘I like the trees on Main Street. It’s just the leaves. They’re lovely for the Christmas lights when the leaves are gone, but they are not suitable for pedestrians and clearing them up is a major extra load on the workers.’
He added that some business people are not happy that the trees create shadow. He repeated his call on the Council to think carefully about the type of trees to be planted on the Avenue. ‘We should take a more practical approach,’ he stated. ‘Small leaves are not near as bad as the big floppy leaves. They are blocking up the drains and everything.’