City's robot trees still rooted in controversy
The installation of ‘robot trees’ or CityTrees in the city in 2021 sparked controversy from the outset, and there have been renewed calls for transparency around their purchase.
Peter Horgan, a local area representative for the Labour Party in Cork city, obtained documents through Freedom of Information (FOI) that detail the expenses associated with the procurement and maintenance of the contentious robot trees.
At the time of their installation, Cork City Council faced widespread criticism for the purchase of the five trees from German company Green City Solutions, which cost €355,106.
However the figures obtained by Mr Horgan reveal that the maintenance of the trees, which are located on Grand Parade and Patrick’s Street, cost €17,880 between 10 August, 2022 to 9 September 2023.
The documents detail the breakdown of costs of maintenance, including 12 inspections of moss filters, sensor technology, ventilation and hydraulic system.
Speaking to the Cork Independent Mr Horgan implied that there was a lack of transparency around the acquisition of the trees, and said he wanted “a full explanation of why and how they were purchased coupled with the spending expected on them, and a full vote of the council to determine whether they should continue”.
Speaking about the trees at the time of their installation, David Joyce, Operations Director at Cork City Council said that the CityTrees “are not there to replace a tree. A tree takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.
“These CityTrees take in particulate matter – dust – from diesel engines, from burning fossil fuels, and it captures that dust and eats the dust so it takes 80 per cent of that dust out of the air,” he said.
Although the trees were put in place to aid in the removal of pollutants from the air, questions persist regarding their performance. Cork City Council confirmed in a statement that an analysis on their effectiveness is currently in progress.
"The performance data is being analysed at present and will be released once this analysis is completed," they said.
Professor John Sodeau of UCC, an expert in air pollution and climate change, raised doubts about the trees' ability to enhance air quality.
“The CityTrees work by absorbing the toxic pollutant called particulate matter from the air by moss filters. The earliest claims by Cork City Council indicated that they would also remove nitrogen dioxide gas from vehicle exhausts,” he said.
“Green City Solutions, who created the devices, indicated that they had commissioned an independent scientific study by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), which stated that a filter effect of 53% was detectable at a distance of 1 metre from the tree with an effect of up to 82% directly at the moss.”
“However, when we look at the actual TROPOS publication, it tells a different story. Here, it only says that a reduction of up to 30% for the particles is found for indoor measurements. No figures for outside filtering is given other than, 'the measurements were shown to be dependent on meteorological conditions'.
“The only way for Cork City Council to assess whether or not they have wasted a very large amount of taxpayers’ money is to confirm these measurements. We wait to see what the figures are for the last year or so. Promised soon, but promised many times over the last year,” he said.
“However, it is unclear to me how they might confirm an 80% reduction as there would be no baseline to confirm the measurements. Perhaps they should take a lesson out of a London Council who recently put their trees to rest as all the moss had been destroyed by local air pollution!”