Melissa and Sheila drawn together by call of wild

It was serendipitous how Sheila Gallagher and Melissa Griffith met and not only became bosom buddies, but entrepreneurial partners.They lived only about a mile and a half apart in the city, but though they had many common interests, their paths didn’t meet until they found themselves protesting during the controversial Eyre Square enhancement plans in 2000.

They both love trees and nature and were horrified that the City Council was contemplating uprooting some of the trees on the Square.

It was a battle that was lost, but out of it came a friendship between the two women that led to the establishment of the Green Sod Land Trust, which recently won a Social Eco Entrepreneurs award, which not only puts them on the map but is valued at about €35,000.

The Trust acquired their first piece of land in Carlow during the year and are working on amassing other tracts of land, all to be placed in trust for the future. They obviously don’t have money to buy land but are hoping more and more people will leave the Trust land in their wills or that companies will donate land.

The lands acquired by the Trust will be protected from development as the ethos of the company is to accumulate land for its own sake, to allow wildlife, ecosystems and habitats to exist without interference.Melissa says she always had a passion for caring for the environment for its own sake, not for any need that it serve people.

Sheila says that of all the people she met during that campaign to save the Eyre Square trees, Melissa was noticeable for her practicality.

“We kept the occupation going and Melissa would come along with vouchers from local cafes, restaurants and shops so we could get drinks and food. She wasn’t just a talker, she was a doer.

“She was always talking about setting up a conversation café where like minded people could meet regularly to talk about life, philosophy, whatever. . . so myself and Melissa started meeting every Sunday morning for a long walk around the city to discuss how we would set it up but it never happened.”

So Sheila and Melissa continued the practice of meeting up long after the bulldozer came in to knock the trees. Melissa says it was heartbreaking the day that happened and she couldn’t watch. So the friendship blossomed and then progressed to chats about how they could combine their passion for the environment and do something practical.

“What would you do if you couldn’t fail?” asked Melissa and they put their heads together and came up with the idea of a land trust, the first of its kind in Ireland.

It is based on the John Muir Trust in Scotland and after years of research, they took the plunge and set up the Green Sod in 2006 so that they could at least protect land.

Basically the two women didn’t want to lose another battle like Eyre Square. They wanted to protect land because as far as they could see nobody else was doing it, certainly not the Government.

“It’s true that we don’t trust the authorities to protect green land,” says Sheila, quickly backed up by Melissa who adds: “The Government has certainly not stepped up to the mark of their commitment to Agenda 21 and the Kyoto Agreement. Thousands of EU laws are being breached in relation to our natural habitats and water directives. We know that the natural heritage is worth about €2bn annually because of the green image we have but if something is not done, we won’t have it for long.”

To this day, Sheila gets emotional talking about Eyre Square. “In an organised vote by the Galway Environmental Alliance, 2,500 registered voters in the city voted to save the trees and yet this was totally ignored by the City Council,” she says.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.