Praise for admitting Christmas tree damage

A YOUNG man from the Coalisland area has been praised by local people after he owned up publicly to damaging the Christmas tree in the town last weekend.

As reported in the Herald last week, there was consternation locally that the tree had been damaged.

However within days a post from the man appeared on social media admitting causing the damage in an “attempt to climb it for a picture” and made a fulsome apology.

He wrote, “I want to make a formal public apology. In a mindless attempt to climb the town Christmas tree for a picture I slipped and damaged it, not only hurting myself but leaving a hole in its side.

“Undeniably this was an idiotic thing to do and I know that my actions are unjustifiable but be sure that it’s being dealt with in the correct manner. So I apologise to the people of Coalisland and to the people who built it and had to fix it.

“Coalisland deserves better and has come such a long way. It deserves to thrive so I am sorry for upsetting the balance. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas.”

Local MLA Linda Dillon replied, “This is clearly a genuine and honest apology and I have to say credit where it is due and to be fair I am sure the community in Coalisland will appreciate this.” She also stated that he had shown a “lot of integrity”.

Cllr Malachy Quinn responded, “There are not too many people these days would do a public apology. Full credit to him. We have all done silly things in our past, we learn and move on”.