Ministers O'Brien and Dooley "drive forward" legislation by taking us back to square one on Marine Protected Areas. Sure what's the hurry!

"while a handful of puffins on a tiny island may seem small, this moment is huge – it proves that seabird restoration works" A fantastic success story for puffins in Antrim! www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Very much looking forward to this conversation with @whittledaway.bsky.social around THE LIE OF THE LAND this Sunday from 2pm in @booksupstairs.bsky.social in Dublin City centre. Do come along if you’re free.

"every year, bottom trawling releases 370 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere" www.euractiv.com/opinion/the-...

Hoping to see lots of people on the streets of Dublin this Saturday!

Good news, but does NPWS have the capability to manage all this land? Its current (excellent) rewilding initiative is only a small fraction of the existing National Park www.derryjournal.com/heritage-and...

"Industrial fishing can extract in a day what a small boat might take in a year" Coastal fishing now involves very few fish and very few young people. If this is to change we need to say goodbye to industrial fishing. theconversation.com/governments-...

The Social Democrats seem to be the only politicians willing to speak out in defence of our right to clean water. What happened the rest of them? www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

I'll be in @booksupstairs.bsky.social Dublin next Sunday afternoon, chewing the cud with @thinkorswim.bsky.social about his fantastic new book 'The Lie of the Land' 🐮 Book at this link ⤵️ booksupstairs.ie/all-events/j...

Fantastic to see these initiatives popping up around Ireland. Oysters are such amazing creatures! www.rte.ie/news/dublin/...

Very encouraging to see small-scale fishermen demand better protections from bottom trawling thefishingdaily.com/eu-fishing-i...

Rewild! marches on It was very nice to meet Will and his mother today and hear of their determination to bring nature back to their land

I discussed the management of our National Parks earlier with Minister Christopher O'Sullivan. There are positives but we're not at the stage where we can say that the State is managing Parks to a high standard. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

On a recent visit to Poland I was told that lynx translocations struggle to make the news, such is the low impact of lynx www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Intensive dairying is only wildly profitable as long as the sector is allowed a free ride to produce massive pollution impacts" The principle that the polluter should pay has long been central to environmental regulation but does not apply to dairy farming www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Only two years ago the European Court of Justice ruled that Ireland hadn't implemented the EU Habitats Directive while a number of other cases are outstanding. It's hilarious to think that there's anything 'gold plated' about our environmental regulations! www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...

These are terrorist attacks and the people involved should be referred to as terrorists www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...

Join us at the National Climate March! We’ll be marching for climate justice, urging the Government to put people before big polluters ✊ Learn more ➡️https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/news/lets-march-to-put-people-before-polluters/ 🧵1/

Ireland's wealthiest households create significantly more carbon emissions than lower-earners, according to a new report from Oxfam Ireland. jrnl.ie/6859962

Over half of farms in West Cork fail pollution inspections. Clearly the fear of losing the nitrates derogation is not sufficient motivation to change behaviour. www.southernstar.ie/farming/over...

"Portugal expects to reach 30% of its marine protected areas by 2026" Still waiting for Ireland to pass a law to allow for the creation of Marine Protected Areas! www.theportugalnews.com/news/2025-10...

Great rewilding news from Scotland where beavers will help restore dynamic ecosystems! www.bbc.com/news/article...

Finally made it to the winterage festival in the Burren with @burrenbeotrust.bsky.social - a fantastic celebration of traditional farming, nature and heritage

In Ireland • Nature is haemorrhaging • Water bodies are sick and dying • Greenhouse gas emissions from land are soaring • Flooding is ever more catastrophic • Etc... Because we've turned nearly all wild, natural habitat into barren monocultures of grass or shitka. Mass REWILDING is the solution.

It's good news that the State is expanding National Parks, but not if the State is only going to continue business as usual. Conservation grazing is important but is only part of the solution to our biodiversity problem, rewilding is also important. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Another aquatic ecosystem, not 'at risk', or 'on the verge', but actually collapsed. "like staring at a face distorted by botched plastic surgery and trying to imagine the real person beneath" www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Ourselves and Green Foundation Ireland are hosting a webinar on how the current disaster has developed and how people can support our campaign to reverse this ecological catastrophe. We will have a panel of experts discussing key issues. Registration is free: www.eventbrite.ie/e/saving-lad...

I've been looking at the issue of goats in Ireland, including 'Old Irish' goats and their role in fire management. As part of this I visited Howth Head in Dublin where Fingal County Council has been using the animals now for a number of years 🐐 www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Fun beaver/fish interaction: When I approached this pond, I startled brown trout preparing to spawn below it (beavs filter sediment & keep downstream substrate clean). The fish dashed to the dam & hid in its base. Beavers created perfect spawning grounds: pristine gravel adjacent to dense cover! 🤯🦫🐟

The Common Agricultural Policy: corrupt and unreformable. No wonder it's being allowed to wither on the vine. www.independent.ie/farming/news...

It's shocking to see the breakdown in cooperation between countries that is pushing fish populations to collapse, but Ireland cannot take the high ground having illegally overfished its mackerel quota in the not too distant past. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Ex-IFA head works for FG... 9 ex-IFA heads endorse FG for the presidency... but they're apolitical 🤔 www.independent.ie/farming/news...

Record Amazon fires release more carbon than an entire country 3.3 million hectares of Amazon forest were impacted by fires last year alone. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

"The Nature Restoration Law offers a huge opportunity for amplifying and accelerating rewilding across the EU" rewildingeurope.com/blog/europes...

The EU will not now delay the introduction of its deforestation law which is a bit of good news given the war on environmental protections currently underway in Brussels www.politico.eu/article/brus...

IFA and Fine Gael move towards a merger www.independent.ie/farming/news...

A damning account of the rot within Inland Fisheries Ireland at a critical time for our rivers and waterways www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlig...

Now you see me.... Now you don't! A photo from a @rhodorangers.bsky.social day out from a while back And an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves... Please like and share! (1/6)

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association have themselves in a twist over the small expansion of National Parks. They rejected nature restoration for farmers now they don't want the State to be doing it either. www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

After visiting all eight of Ireland's National Parks some broad themes emerge. Things are vastly improved on a decade ago but serious challenges remain. This piece talks about what they are ⤵️ www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...

The biggest global gathering of nature organisations, scientists and governments, which takes place every 4 years, has just concluded. Once again, there was no representative from the Irish government - why have we opted out of participating in these events? iucn.org/press-releas...

I really enjoyed Conor O'Brien's book 'the Living and the Dead' about some of the animals that have been driven out of Ireland and some that have made it back. His article here is a great summation... highly recommended! www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Why do media and politicians continually present action on climate and nature as unpopular?

Ms Humphreys claims that the scope of her “Slash & Burn Bill” was restricted to roadside hedgerows is totally false. The bill looked to remove the protection from all hedgerows in August & allow burning of vegetation in March. Totally dishonest & unpresidential www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Heather Humphreys was a disaster as minister in charge of heritage and nature. She didn't meet nature groups and seemed to have no interest in her job expect for when it came to weaking wildlife laws to allow more burning and hedge-cutting. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...?

Remarkable increase in support of the UK Green Party - I'm sure there are lessons here for any Irish political party looking to including environmental issues in their platform www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Two headlines, only four months apart, show the inherently unmanageable nature of industrial fishing. Species by species are ticked off the list... very few make it back

"Continuing deterioration of rivers, lakes and estuaries risks arriving at a point where they become ecologically dead" - we know a number of water bodies are already at that point www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...

Half of Ireland's waterways in bad shape despite years of hand-wringing and intensive meetings... what's going wrong? www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

I'll be in Galway later this month talking about Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). I'll be particularly talking about an MPA for Galway Bay - what would it look like? How would it work? What could we expect from it in terms of wildlife recovery? Register here ⤵️ www.eventbrite.ie/e/a-marine-p...