Has the government really permanently damaged the economic outlook for the majority of farmers in the country in exchange for what amounts to only a short reprieve for 7,000 N derogation farmers? This again exposes the myth that family farm viability is the priority share.google/hDIs9gFLbCjy...

I had an enjoyable and wide-ranging chat with Jarek from the Lough Carra Catchment Association podcast about water quality, frozen lakes, accidental careers and lots in between. @antaisce.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/0OqV...

Looking for a sustainable Christmas gift for someone special in your life? Give the gift that lasts all year: An Taisce Membership! Protect nature. Support advocacy. Make a difference. Just scan QR code or to www.antaisce.org/blog/giving-... #giftfornature #sustainablechristmas

Basically confirming that the government was given an extension on the nitrates derogation in exchange for supporting Mercosur. A deal that's bad for the environment, bad for everyone except dairy farmers www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

"When we break the law, we go to jail. When the government breaks the law, the government changes the law." For the very latest example of the latter in Ireland, follow @elainemcgoff.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFUK...

It's worth cataloguing what has happened in the water world in the last few weeks alone. It paints a picture of a Government who are not at all prioritising the health of our waterways, and who are failing on multiple fronts to put in place the measures we actually need. A watery rant 🧵

It's just over 3 weeks since Ireland was found in breach by the ECJ for failing to protect waterbodies from physical damage. The government response? Lower the legal bar for these waterbodies, so the damage can continue, with insufficient justification. Our waterways are not in safe hands.

What a total disgrace that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and, above all, Sinn Féin voted this down. Very few want this terribly cruel colonial sport, which sees hordes of horses, riders, and dogs rampage across the countryside. The wishes of the majority were ignored. Again. share.google/GFZMEYpIfSe0...

I'm incredibly honoured to get this DCU Water Warrior award. These blue arteries of our lands are so incredibly precious, and I'm delighted to be recognised for fighting alongside my colleagues in @antaisce.bsky.social to help protect them. It's a fight we're often losing, but one I'll never quit.

This evening the Dáil will vote on a Bill to Ban Fox Hunting. More info: iwt.ie/support-the-... 📷 Fox by Michelle Concannon, as featured in our 2026 calendar: iwt.ie/product/2026... #BanFoxHunting

Looking for a sustainable Christmas gift for someone in your life? Giving the gift An Taisce membership is a present that lasts all year. Your gift also helps to safeguard our natural and built heritage for present & future generations www.antaisce.org/blog/giving-...

If only 2% of people polled have ever taken part, just *who* wants to retain fox hunting, asks Saoirse McHugh www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

I had to re-read this a few times because it is hard to believe. Demand from proposed new data centres might be as high as 5.8GW, equivalent to *peak electricity demand for the entire country*. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

🚨 Toxic pesticides are poisoning our soils, water, and biodiversity. Now the EU wants to weaken rules. Last week, the EU Commission published the environment omnibus + the grids package. This “simplification omnibus” is a dangerous shift. 👉 Take Action: www.environmentalpillar.ie/end-the-toxi...

The triple Lock was a promise to the Irish people that we would not become part of an EU-NATO military structure made in 2002 so we would vote for Nice #2. Removing it is not about 'taking back sovereignty', it is a betrayal of Ireland's sovereignty. www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

A report this week showing that a whopping 90% of protected habitats are in bad condition, and still deteriorating, has been hailed by the government as "good news for Ireland's wildlife" 😵

Spot on 👇 "The extension may spare the Government a political problem, but it places even greater pressure on a compromised environment & sets the country up for a grim ecological reckoning." www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit... .

As someone who spends a lot of time talking about European law, it was amazing to see the ECJ in operation for our nitrates case today. Let's hope the ECJ care more about clean water than the Irish government appears to.

Nitrates derogations are a risky business model for agri-industry. EU Commission seems to be indicating that the new three-year derogation is on borrowed time. New Ireland Thinks poll shows public want clean, healthy water, and majority not in favour of Ireland seeking another derogation.

Let's be clear: Environmental Omnibus weakens the rules set to keep us safe, our air breathable, our water clean and our nature alive. The decision is heavily stained with fingerprints from the industry lobbyists. Unfortunately, nature cannot buy such a political influence. 🧵/3 #HandsOffNature

Ireland’s water is going green, yet the EU just approved YET another nitrates derogation... Rural communities have spoken: they want clean rivers, not more pollution. Science and public health are clear. It’s time to enforce the rules and safeguard Ireland’s waters. Press release & letter below👇

People across the island of Ireland want clean beaches, pristine lakes and rivers - and both governments are catastrophically failing them theearthscorr.substack.com/p/opinion-da...

BREAKING: Ireland's nitrates derogation has been renewed.🗳️ This has no scientific basis & fails nature, the public, & farmers. “The evidence simply did not exist to justify renewing Ireland’s nitrates derogation" "Meanwhile, our precious water and wildlife suffer.” swanireland.ie/2025/12/rene...

"Today’s vote by the European Nitrates Committee to approve an extension of Ireland’s nitrates derogation for another three years is a bad day for Irish waterbodies and for everyone who relies on clean quality water in Ireland" www.antaisce.org/news/eu-nitr...

Excellent article from @elainemcgoff.bsky.social on the many, many failures that have led us to where we are. Nobody asked the people of this country if we were willing to sacrifice our waterways so the dairy industry could wallow in profits www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

'Our waters are crying out for a break from the pollution, Irish people are calling for clean water, but our voices are being drowned out in a world of political wrangling and vested interest. And the thing is, you can’t drink politics.' www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Ireland's nitrates derogation & water quality — survey reveals public value clean freshwaters & have negative attitudes to raising farming allowance on nitrates @epaireland.bsky.social find agriculture is a primary source of nitrogen pollution in our waters www.antaisce.org/news/public-...

“Simplification” sounds harmless - until you realise its a Trojan horse to weaken critical environmental laws that protect our air, water and Nature itself. These laws protect you. Let’s protect them back. Tell EU leaders: #HandsOffNature @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @jessikaroswall.ec.europa.eu

82% of people think healthy waters are very important but many underestimate how polluted our waters are & how much comes from agriculture. Nearly half don't know what the nitrates derogation is. Is govt lobbying to use the same level of nitrate pollutants from ag really in the public's interest?!

The advisory committee on nature restoration has expressed “disappointment and frustration” at the exclusion of nature from a significant plan for public spending over the next decade - writes Caroline O Doherty. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

🎯 'The ignoring of facts, the sidelining of scientists and the breezy assertions, repeated ad nauseum, that Irish agriculture is ‘sustainable’ are largely responsible for the mess Irish farming finds itself in. Honesty alone will not dig us out of the hole, but it would be a start.'

‘The ignoring of facts, the sidelining of scientists and the breezy assertions, repeated ad nauseum, that Irish agriculture is ‘sustainable’ are largely responsible for the mess Irish farming finds itself in.’ 💯

Judicial reviews are not the enemy of progress — they are a vital safeguard Recent headlines have been flooded with a false narrative about the planning system www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

A must read article 👇 'Judicial review isn’t an obstacle — it’s a quality check. When projects meet legal and environmental standards, they proceed. When they don’t, the courts step in. That’s democracy.' www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

Support the Bill to Ban Fox Hunting in Ireland 🦊 Background & call to action here 👉 iwt.ie/support-the-... @banbloodsports.bsky.social @irishenvnet.bsky.social #BanFoxHunting

Here we are yet again - another very busy Christmas period that the Government is using to bury changes that will seriously erode the public’s right to access justice and hold our public authorities to account. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Dig a little deeper, and a pattern starts to emerge: coordinated messaging, shared interests, and a narrowing space for independent voices. padraigmcevoy.substack.com/p/how-irelan...

Calling it out for what it really is 🤐 rather than a #planning system where the decisions are legally compliant & #sustainable - we get this #HowIrelandWorks same old playlist #scalesofjustice @attractaub.bsky.social @irishrainforest.bsky.social @savethehellfire.bsky.social

The truth? The Irish public doesn't WANT their national rivers and lakes turned into stinking, dying, cesspools for profit by a particular commercial sector, that also happens to be very heavily subsidised by people's taxes. Yet that's what this government continues to push for.

An Taisce did some polling on irish attitudes to water and the Nitrates derogation- the majority of those polled are not in support of another derogation.

An interesting poll on public attitudes to water and the derogation: 'Irish people want clean, healthy waters, it’s time the Government actually started protecting that precious resource, instead of giving it lip service while prioritising the demands of the agri-business industry'

Ireland second highest in EU for greenhouse gas emissions per person www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

'the current heavy loading of agricultural nutrients will have to stop. Lakes and rivers need to be given the chance to breathe, to reoxygenate their habitats so that life can return.' www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...

Irish bird-lovers: the annual Irish Garden Bird Survey starts tomorrow 🥳 🙌 🎉 If you need a reason to keep going in the darkest days of winter, count birds. If you want to be a citizen scientist, count birds. If breakfasts are boring, count birds. Got a few spare moments? Just count birds.

We never talk about, when there is such a feel-good factor around such fundraising drives, and we marvel at the amounts raised, how the State should be fully funding many of these organisations to do this work. OR PROVIDING THESE SERVICES ITSELF. Because we have a right to public services.

Generations from now, when historians study this period where we have perfect understanding of the problem, and brilliant, readily available solutions with all the resources necessary to implement them, they'll study cases like this to try to figure out why we kept drilling holes in our lifeboat.

SWAN's submission to the draft 6th Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) is out. The NAP is meant to be a plan to tackle nutrient pollution in Ireland, but it fails in urgency & relies on inadequate measures that won't achieve what is needed to restore our waters. swanireland.ie/wp-content/u...

Ireland has failed to provide any evidence that the next nitrates derogation will provide solutions to our ever-worsening water quality. We aren't holding up our end of the bargain, and we haven't for decades. #NitratesDerogation #NitratePollution

I spoke to Pat Kenny earlier about the derogation decision 'In theory, we should only get the derogation on the condition that it not impact on water quality. We’re not holding up our end of the bargain, and we haven’t for decades ' www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

Dr. @elainemcgoff.bsky.social: "This derogation decision is meant to be based on science, but the evidence is very clear that we have a serious nitrogen pollution problem in Ireland & the measures we’re putting in place to address that are not working” Yet again agri power trumps pollution reality.