Save Tara Trees Facebook campaign launched

A Facebook campaign has been set up to save the ‘fairy trees’ at the ancient Hill of Tara site, which organisers say are being "suffocated with heavy rubbish" by wish-makers.

Well-meaning visitors have been leaving hundreds of items, including hairbands, plastic cards, underwear, and even handcuffs tied to branches of two hawthorn trees near the Lia Fáil stone on the legendary Co Meath site.

The practice of rag-tying was deliberately diverted away from the original tree in a “gallant effort to save it”, according to Carmel Diviney, who has launched the Save Tara Trees campaign on Facebook.

Ms Diviney is a member of the Tara Skryne Preservation Group and organised some of the summer solstice events on Tara this year.

“In Irish tradition, tying biodegradable items such as cotton or linen to a fairy tree at a holy well was done to bring healing,” said Ms Diviney. “As the cloth degraded, the disease or condition would disintegrate with it.”

However, in recent years, people began leaving other items on the trees, which are causing huge problems.

“The weight of the rubbish — plastic and other non-biodegradable items — is suffocating the trees, as are the hair bands that are bound so tightly that new leaves and berries cannot emerge,” said Ms Diviney. “It was something beautiful to see them unfurling once their fetters were removed.”

Ms Divine said that, largely because of the practice, the original tree and the ‘decoys’ are now being slowly poisoned by visitors who are hopeful for an answer to their wish but unaware of the damage they are causing.

“The original fairy tree is dying now, perhaps because of copper poisoning from people hammering coins into it, perhaps from being struck by lightning, but perhaps mostly because it is old,” said Ms Diviney.

“The two newer trees were healthy up until about four years ago, when the practice of rag-tying was diverted away from the old tree in a gallant effort to save it. These trees are now under severe threat.”

She thanked all those who in recent weeks tried to help her take off as much rubbish as possible from the trees. “Up to 25 people spent two hours remove six big bags of rubbish from the trees and we barely made a dent in the amount still on the trees,” said Ms Diviney.

Another clean-up will be held on July 27 at 3pm.

A total of 9,600 people visited the interpretative centre at Tara between May and September last year.