Hedges would have quicker impact on air quality than Cork's 'robot trees', expert says

'If I had been asked about the city trees, I would have said "don’t bother"’, atmospheric chemistry expert says

'They are lovely seats but I think the money would have been better spent on hedging, or on providing toilets.' Picture: Andy Gibson

Planting hedges or enforcing the ban on private cars along Cork’s main street would have had a more immediate impact on air quality than the €400,000 ‘robot trees’, an expert in atmospheric chemistry has said.

Emeritus professor John Sodeau who was, until his recent retirement, a professor of physical chemistry at UCC, and who founded the Centre of Research into Atmospheric Chemistry, also said if he had been consulted in advance about the effectiveness of the so-called city tree devices, he would have advised Cork City Council against buying them.