A VANDAL has attempted to kill a beautiful beech tree in the grounds of Holy Cross Church, Killeshin by drilling holes into its bark and poisoning it.

The iconic church, which is a favourite venue for weddings because of its lofty, picturesque location, is framed on one side by the 100-year-old tree.

“People are very upset by what happened because they love that tree,” Fr John Dunphy, parish priest of Graiguecullen/Killeshin parish, told the Laois Nationalist.

“The church is 200 years’ old and we reckon that the tree is 100 years’ old. Everyone in living memory remembers that tree as being part of the church.”

The tree grows out of a bank in front of the church and a tree specialist had previously been called in to assess whether there was any danger of it falling and causing damage to either the church building or to people. The specialist declared the tree to be fit and healthy and in no way a danger, but when he was driving by the church recently he noticed that half of its leaves had died. He immediately inspected the tree and noticed that screws had been bored into its bark and that poison had been administered. He somehow managed to save the tree but it’s not out of the woods yet.

“We’ll have to wait until next spring to see whether the leaves will come back and if the tree will survive. If it doesn’t, it will have to be cut down,” Fr Dunphy said.

Two other trees in the newer graveyard were also damaged with screws bored into them. Fr Dunphy is at a loss as to why anyone would want to damage them.

“I couldn’t speculate as to why anyone would want to do that. The beech tree wasn’t a danger to any of the graves or to anyone. It’s an act of vandalism and it’s been reported to the gardaí,” Fr Dunphy concluded.