Jailed for trying to do the right thing

AS the thousands of trees she so lovingly planted on her farm in Tullamore over the last few decades begin to take on the beautiful russets, coppers and golds of autumn Teresa Tracy will have to rely on her memory to enjoy them.

She is 65, a single, retired businesswoman and she will, on the order of the High Court, be held indefinitely in Mountjoy Prison unless she concedes to ESB plans to fell 12,000 of her trees. She is an inmate — though not convicted of anything — because she has defied the ESB to protect her property and the trees the energy company wants to cut down so it can run power lines over her land.

She has not said that the ESB cannot run power lines across her land, just that they cannot run them over her land. Ms Tracy has said she will facilitate the lines as long as they are laid underground. This seems an entirely fair compromise and recognises that we all must change our ways to better protect the world around us, the world we are all just passing through.