Supported By AIB – One Hundred Million Trees Campaign Arrives in Thurles.

Mr Peter McCreevy Reports:

Regional Planting of Special Mini Forest Close to Dun Muileann Housing Estate, Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
550,000 Trees to be Planted Nationwide Over Coming Months.

The One Hundred Million Trees (100 MT) Project is delighted to announce a new partnership with Tipperary County Council as part of the next phase of its 2025 national planting campaign. This ambitious initiative, which deploys a novel planting technique perfected in Japan* is well on course to plant 550,000 trees across Ireland at hundreds of sites by May of this year.

The regional planting programme now moves to County Tipperary with a significant event at the Dun Muileann Housing Estate, just outside Thurles undertaken today, sponsored by Allied Irish Banks.
A site has been cleared and transformed into a thriving green space with 5,500 native-variety tree saplings, contributing to the 100MT Project’s mission of fostering environmental sustainability and enhancing biodiversity.

**Pictured above are Ms Clodagh Loughnane**, *(AIB Customer Service & Sales)*, **Ms Nora Doherty** *(AIB Savings & Deposit Advisor)*, **Mr Richard Mulcahy** *(Co-founder of the 100MT Project initiative)* **and Mr Niall O’Gorman** *(AIB Business Customer Advisor)* **who attended, suitably attired for today’s tree planting in Thurles.**

Local volunteers, transition year students from local secondary schools gathered today to participate in this important crusade to create a greener, more sustainable future for the region.

Founded in 2022 by siblings Richard, David, and Tina Mulcahy, the 100MT Project has already passed some impressive milestones with 20,000 trees planted in its first year and 200,000 in its second year across 85 sites in 23 counties. The ambitious goal for the current planting season, is to plant a further 550,000 trees across 230 sites in 29 counties, by May of this year.

“AIB is delighted to support the tree planting at Dun Muileann Housing Estate for this meaningful native Irish tree planting project,” said Mr Nial Hogan, AIB Branch Manager Thurles. “AIB is committed to supporting communities and the transition to a low carbon economy and by combining our efforts, we are creating a lasting impact on the local environment.”

Ms Sharon Scully, Thurles Municipal District Administrator and coordinator, expressed gratitude for the collaboration, saying, “We are thrilled to partner with the 100MT Project and AIB for this important initiative. It is inspiring to see the response from the local community in Thurles who are coming together to make a small but important positive environmental impact, protecting biodiversity and contributing to the future wellbeing of future generations.”

Mr Richard Mulcahy, (Latter grandson of the late General Richard James Mulcahy TD) co-founder of the 100MT Project initiative, commented, “This event highlights the power of collaboration between local authorities, businesses, and communities in tackling environmental challenges. By working together, we can create lasting change and build a more sustainable future. We are rolling out this campaign at hundreds of locations this year in the knowledge that Ireland was once a densely-forested island with ideal conditions for tree growth. So far this winter season we have planted over 250,000 new trees throughout Ireland. It is ironic perhaps to call it a grassroots campaign when we are actually bringing back hundreds of thousands of native variety trees in to the heart of local communities around the country”

The 100MT invites community members, environmental advocates, and volunteers to get involved in achieving this season’s ambitious goal.

*Japan-The Miyawaki Method.
The project’s ambitious aim is to densely plant between 1,000 and 2,500 native Irish trees at a time across small areas of land using ‘the Miyawaki method’, named after Japanese Botanist, Professor Akira Miyawaki. This method of overplanting trees has been successful in creating over 1,700 forests worldwide, including three established forests in Ireland. By planting excess trees together, they grow considerably faster, denser, are more biodiverse, and most importantly create a very rapid carbon sink. This inexpensive approach requires significantly smaller planting areas and can be conducted on unused or fallow land across Ireland. Dense areas of afforestation can also actually play a role in reducing the impact of forest fires, while at the same time provide excellent areas of biodiversity.