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Articles by Pádraic Fogarty
The wolf is at the door 10 things we must do to prepare for a hotter, drier future
IT MIGHT SEEM strange discussing extreme heat while the country is in the grip of torrential downpours, but this summer’s drought across Europe has left the continent reeling. In Ireland, we have seen wildfires, fodder shortages, stressed animals and impacted yields for vegetable growers. Other countries saw horrendous forest fires, power restrictions and transport disruption from low river levels. Even with welcome rain in the last week, the effects will be long-lasting.
Explosion rocks ammunition factory near Rome
A POWERFUL EXPLOSION rocked an ammunition factory near Rome but no injuries were reported, emergency services and the factory owner said. Firefighters and police were at the site near Colleferro, a town about 40 kilometres southeast of Rome, and “complex operations” were under way, police told AFP. The fire service later said 10 crews had been sent to the area and shared a video showing thick smoke but no visible sign of flames.
You can now make offers online for this five-bed home in Lucan with its large garden
SPACE IS BOUND to be the big draw at Mount Brandon, a five-bed detached home in Lucan that comes with three reception rooms, a large south-facing garden and even a fully insulated garden room. Offers by Daft are now live on this property, meaning you can place and track offers in real time, from anywhere. This handy online platform creates a fair and transparent process so that buyers can make decisions with confidence.
One dead and several injured in explosion at Rotterdam port refinery
AT LEAST ONE person was killed and several injured in an explosion at a Rotterdam port refinery belonging to the Dutch subsidiary of the Swiss-based Gunvor Group on Thursday, police said. Rotterdam police told AFP that the explosion occurred around 11.30am (8.30am Irish time) at the Gunvor Energy Rotterdam site in Europoort – the Netherlands port that forms part of one of the world’s largest chemical and petrochemical industrial zones.
Sharks in Irish waters They need our protection, not sensationalist headlines
THE INCIDENT THIS week, where a man was bitten by a blue shark on an angling boat off the coast of Waterford, has put a spotlight on recreational fishing for sharks in Irish waters.
Irishman jailed for murder of American nurse in Hungary
A HUNGARIAN COURT on Wednesday sentenced an Irishman to 14 years in prison for brutally killing an American tourist during sex before dumping her body in the woods. The Budapest-Capital Regional Court found the man guilty of the murder of Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, a 31-year-old nurse from Oregon who was on holiday in the central European country. The defendant, identified only by his initials L. T. M., had invited the victim to his apartment for sex after meeting her in a Budapest nightclub.
You can now make offers online for this reimagined Dublin home close to the city centre
FINDING A WELL-BUILT home in the capital that has been completely renovated and needs very little work can make a buyer feel like they’ve hit the jackpot. 46 Tyrconnell Park is a three-bedder in Inchicore that delivers style and substance in equal measure. Redesigned, extended and finished to a high standard, 46 Tyrconnell Park is a home that combines modern design with everyday practicality.
Heat is here to stay Irish cities urgently need more trees
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Ireland on fire Wildfires are a huge aspect of a changing climate, and we're totally unprepared
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Ireland's national parks Our Nature Restoration Plan faces a reality check
LATER THIS YEAR, Ireland will submit its draft Nature Restoration Plan to the European Commission for approval. The Plan, a requirement of the Nature Restoration Law passed in 2024, is expected to include area targets for the restoration of a number of habitat types, such as old oak forests, flower-rich grasslands and marine reefs.
Thousands of sharks, skates, seals and dolphins are dying in tangle nets
WHY ARE THOUSANDS of endangered and protected animals drowning in fishing gear off the west coast of Ireland? This includes grey seals, sharks, skates, dolphins and much more in legally designated ‘special areas of conservation’ or even our only marine national park, Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, which surrounds Kerry’s Blasket Islands.
Flood barriers won't save us if we keep draining the land
AFTER MIDLETON IN Cork was flooded in 2023, then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that what he had seen in the town was “at a different scale” to anything he had seen before. “The floodwaters were up to my arm. It was not just water. There was dirt, mud and sewage. A huge amount of damage was done,” he said. He referred to the need for more flood defence schemes for towns but noted that “it is not just about flood barriers.
Why don't we regulate farms like we do pharmaceuticals?
AGRICULTURE IS IRELAND’S dirtiest business: the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the biggest source of pollution in our waterways and the biggest driver of species extinction on land. A recent investigation by The Journal Investigates revealed that the majority of county councils are failing to meet farm inspection targets for slurry management but this is just the latest in a ceaseless trickle of negative headlines from the sector.
'We should hang our heads in shame at our failure to protect the sea'
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER meeting of prime ministers and presidents puffing themselves up as leaders in the fight for a habitable planet. Next week, to coincide with World Ocean Day, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is expected to travel to Nice, France, for the United Nations Ocean Conference, billed as a meeting to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development”.
Preparation requires proper enforcement and the end of old practices
THE SIGHT OF leaves appearing on trees and birds gathering twigs for their nests is a reminder that spring is well underway. The Wildlife Act acknowledges the importance of this period by prohibiting the destruction of vegetation outside of cultivation between the beginning of March and the end of August. This period is primarily timed to protect birds that are nesting, laying eggs and feeding young, but, in so doing, provides a security umbrella for plants, insects and small mammals.
This government is determined to turn its back on sustainable forestry in Ireland
MODERN IRELAND HAS never had an easy relationship with trees. Storm Éowyn, which blasted into Ireland in January with record breaking wind speeds up to 184km/hr has made matters worse. Trees were largely held responsible for the downing of power lines, leaving thousands of people without electricity or water for weeks. The toll on commercial forestry was just as bad, with the Department of Agriculture estimating that 30,000 hectares of plantation have been destroyed, valued at €500 million.
The Phoenix Park deer might be part of its heritage, but they're bad for biodiversity
THE PHOENIX PARK in Dublin may or may not be the largest city park in Europe but it is certainly the largest in Ireland. As a green space, it is one of the capital’s lungs (the other being the sea) and there’s no denying its importance or its popularity. Its prominence gives it a special status as a place where nature (or ‘green infrastructure’ as policy people like to refer to it) shows its immense value to the urban environment.
Let our rivers run free
First published online: 22nd January 2025 By Padraic Fogarty Pádraic Fogarty is author of ‘Whittled Away – Ireland’s Vanishing Nature’ (Collins, 2017) and is former Campaign Officer for the IWT. The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Irish Wildlife Trust. Guest Writer in Irish Wildlife Magazine Winter 2024 Issue. Get your copy of the latest magazine by joining IWT today.
Emissions numbers may have improved, but let's not drop the ball
AS THE MEMBERS of the Dáil settle at home away from Dublin as summer recess begins, the news that greenhouse gas emissions fell last year to their lowest level in 30 years will be welcomed by government politicians, particularly those in the Green Party. Proof positive, they will say, that green policies are showing results even at a time when both the economy and the population have expanded.
What's the point of a new national park if we're not preserving nature?
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF a new national park and, a first for Ireland, a marine national park, is surely news to be celebrated. What’s not to like? Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí, which was announced yesterday by Ministers Darragh O’Brien and Malcolm Noonan, includes the purchase of boglands around the Conor Pass as well as waters around islands off the Dingle peninsula.
EU failure to pass the Nature Restoration Law shows a worrying shift to the right
JUST AS THE Nature Restoration Law appeared set to be finally approved, after two years of controversy, a number of member states have dealt what appears to be a fatal blow. What is normally a formality, after votes in the European Parliament, committees and deal breaking between institutions, last weekend several countries, including Sweden, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands, said they will not support the new Law, and so denying it the majority needed for approval.
Pádraic Fogarty: Ireland's bogs are its rainforests — we have failed them
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has announced that it is finally taking Ireland to court for the State’s failure to stop peat mining in Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). It comes fully 13 years after issuing its first warning so no one can accuse the EC of moving with undue haste! The SACs form a small fraction of all the bogs in Ireland and are those that are nearest to their original condition.
Farmers must find a more sophisticated way to be heard than tractor protests
THE FUTURE OF farming hangs in the balance. This week, the government of the Spanish region of Catalunya announced emergency restrictions on water supplies due to a level of drought not seen in recorded history. Water for irrigation of crops will be reduced by 30%, livestock farmers will have their water usage halved. Should the drought continue, the restrictions will get tighter. Farmers protesting in France this week included the drought-induced lack of water in their laundry list of complaints.
Next year, we can't afford to be complacent about biodiversity
THIS YEAR WAS the year that nature protection went from being a little-noticed issue on the political fringes to one that is centre-stage in national and EU politics.
This week's budget signals the birth of a new nature economy
SINCE THE END of the Second World War, how we use our land and sea has been driven by a need to maximise food production. The result has been a superabundance of food across the European Union but a commensurate collapse of the living world as seas were emptied, rivers disfigured and ‘rough ground’ converted into something, anything, that could deliver an income.
'Farmers' power has seeped like a smothering fog through Irish politics'
Environmental activist Pádraic Fogarty resigned this week as a member of the Irish Wildlife Trust after a controversy over a blog he’d written. He’d been with the IWT for 20 years but in the piece, Fogarty named the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Organisation and the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association as among the groups over which he had concerns.
Drift of the farm orgs
Drift of the farm orgs By Pádraic Fogarty 15th July 2023 Last May, I found myself on the farm of Donie Regan in the west of County Offaly. The open day was organised by the Farm Carbon project that he is involved with. Donie farms cattle on the edge of a raised bog and some of his land is peaty. This project is looking at practical solutions to rewetting these peaty soils, which are a large source of carbon emissions.
Nature Restoration must be supported by Irish MEPs
By Damien Thomson Political Advisor to the Left grouping in the European Parliament on environment & climate, July 10th 2023 On Wednesday (July 12th), there will be an extraordinarily decisive vote in the European Parliament which will decide whether we have a chance of overcoming the biodiversity crisis in Europe. The Nature Restoration Law proposal is the first comprehensive nature legislation in the EU in 30 years.
Big parties are failing to lead
Pádraic Fogarty June 3rd 2023 Biodiversity week came to a close last week with dozens of events around the country celebrating our natural heritage. It’s hard to know if the irony was lost on some politicians that instead of spending time reflecting on our connection with nature they joined the most concerted attack on efforts to address the biodiversity crisis we have seen in a generation.
People and wildife and dogs
Pádraic Fogarty April 22nd 2023 In the greater scheme of things, owning a dog is probably seen as at the insignificant end of the biodiversity crisis wedge. Owners of harmless-looking lapdogs or lumbering retrievers do not typically see their beloved pets as destroyers of ecosystems. I’m not a dog owner myself but I’m as fond of the mutts as anyone, even when, as once happened, a friend’s dog lunged into the long grass along our walking trail to snap at a lizard, which subsequently lost its tail.
Goodbye to the Hills
Pádraic Fogarty 26th March 2023 At a conference in Galway dedicated to the management of Ireland’s uplands regions, speaker after speaker raised concerns about the ecological degradation caused by over-grazing, the low returns for farmers on their sheep as well as the need for diversification and more native woodland in the face of pressures from wind developments and monoculture forestry.
No more industrial tree farms
17th of September 2022 Will Ireland’s new Forest Strategy prove to be the acorn that went on to be a mighty oak? Or will it be a seed in the wind, destined to land on stony ground? It’s hard to get excited about new strategies, given our long history of producing plans that are subsequently ignored. But, on the other hand, we can’t undertake long-term reform without a solid strategy.
Read, Share and Shape the News
Poll: Would you drink less if a minimum unit pricing for alcohol is brought in? WOULD YOU DRINK less if the government introduced minimum unit pricing for alcohol? The Sunday Independent reported that the Government is to introduce minimum unit pricing on alcohol within weeks, which would set a minimum price of 10c per gram of alcohol.
Opinion: As half Killarney National Park is lost, we must end the cycle of infernos
THE BURNING TO the ground of half of Killarney National Park over the weekend has rightly caused shock and anger across Ireland. But for those of us working in the field of nature conservation, these kinds of events have become all too routine and even predictable. In fact, serious wildfires have occurred in Killarney National Park every year in recent times as well as Wicklow National Park and other nature reserves.
O’Dwyer joins NY parade board
Dr. Brian O’Dwyer was 2019 New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal and now, as a member of the parade organizing board, will have a role in planning future parades. By Irish Echo Staff The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade has announced that Dr. Brian J. O’Dwyer will be joining the parade’s Board of Directors. O’Dwyer was grand marshal of the 2019 parade. “We are delighted to add Brian to our board”, said Sean Lane, Parade Board Chairman.
McEntee, in D.C., emphasizes bridges and ties
Pictured at Georgetown University (l-r) Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall, Rep. David Joyce (R), Rep.
Possible Brexit deal comes in to view
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured earlier today at Thornton Manor Hotel in The Wirral, just outside Liverpool. Photo from merrionstreet.ie website. By Irish Echo Staff Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson say they “can see a pathway to a possible deal” on Brexit, this following a meeting of the two leaders just outside Liverpool earlier today. The meeting was followed by the release of a joint statement.
An Irish wilderness without the wild
Whittled Away” lays bare the challenges facing wild Ireland By Padráic Fogarty The Wild Atlantic Way is widely acknowledged to be one of the best tourism initiatives to come out of Ireland in recent decades and, living up to its name, has proved to be wildly popular. One prominent hotelier proclaimed that it was the best thing to happen to Ireland since the launch of Aer Lingus in 1936.
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