Sir, – In relation to the mass tree-felling envisaged for the proposed bus corridors in Dublin, Tony Fitzmaurice asks, "What price beauty?" (Letters, March 7th).
Apart from their aesthetic value (and there is little in nature to rival the beauty of a mature tree), trees have well-known environmental benefits, ie their essential role in the survival of wildlife as well as their emission of oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
What may not be as well known is that studies have shown that a row of mature broad-leaf trees can remove up to 60 per cent of pollutants from the atmosphere. The same row of trees will reduce noise by 50 per cent (similar in effect to a stone wall). What could be more desirable on urban streets than purification of the air and reduction of noise?
It beggars belief that all schemes designed to improve urban transport would not, as a priority, aim to ensure the retention of features that are not only environmentally and aesthetically irreplaceable but that are also specifically and uniquely beneficial in combating the damaging effects of traffic. – Yours, etc,
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VALERIN O’SHEA,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.