Fintan Kelly

The main east coast railway line runs on the other side of this fence, which is about to collapse into the sea. How much longer can politicians ignore the reality of climate change?

Environmental breakdown isn’t a distant possibility – it’s a threat to world stability The message is clear: climate change should be prioritised as a security crisis, not just an environmental one

"The most cost-effective & impactful way to protect our collective future is through large-scale restoration, which can only happen with a truly steadfast commitment of long-term funding in the billions. It’s peanuts compared to what the alternative would cost." 💯
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Flood Prevention Is the way we are farming partly responsible for flooding, and what changes might decrease damage in the future? Geomorphologist Prof Mary Bourke. Sligo Farmers Eddie Davitt and Joe Leonard. Farming F...

“You don’t treat a flood where it ends up, you treat it where it starts. Upstream at the top of the catchment”

How to use the land more cleverly to adapt to changing weather and future floods.
#RTECountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Farmers should of course have a voice in shaping their future but so should the rest of society. When people say they constantly feel like their concerns aren't being heard its because they aren't. You aren't allowed in the room & if you protest outside it you'll probably be arrested.

Peaceful protest should always be respected regardless of occupation. The biased treatment of farming reps was again highlighted this week when Commissioners Hansen & Serafin visited Dublin to discuss the future of farming & EU budget. Farming reps were invited & civil society / NGOs were excluded.

Extinction Rebellion protesters arrested and released after chaining themselves to gates of Leinster House Dozens of gardaí formed a human chain around protestors as their locks were cut off the gate looking onto Merrion Square.

When Extinction Rebellion peacefully protested at the gates of Leinster House, they were swiftly removed by a phalanx of Gardai and arrested.
Yet when IFA members have occupied Bord Bia HQ or Agriculture House, the state’s response has been far more accomodating.
www.thejournal.ie/extinction-r...

Ireland in the storms: Flood barriers won't save us if we keep draining the land After flooding in the past, successive governments promised protections, but instead, doubled down on dredging and delayed land-use reform, leaving communities exposed, writes Pádraic Fogarty.

Another excellent piece by Pádraic Fogarty. The Nature Restoration Law and the Land Use Review offer the government a real opportunity to address challenges like flooding head-on, but I have little faith they’ll take it.
www.thejournal.ie/readme/storm...

The IAC I would say has outperformed what many people might have expected in terms of the willingness of all stakeholder to collaborate to deliver consensus advice for the Minister. The State so far has failed to even deliver the low hanging fruit of leadership on public land or clarity on finance

The scale of the challenge and the opportunity are huge but this also has to be framed within the reality that this are just implementation targets linked to legal obligations we agreed over 30 years ago under the Habitats Directive and re-affirmed under the NRL.

And that's just the restoration target. The habitat re-establishment target in many ways is much more ambitious. A lot could be delivered through the removal of publicly owned legacy forestry on deep peat but that will still cost money & who will manage the sites post re-establishment?

Maybe specific elements could sit outside of CAP (e.g. rewetting) or the new fund could deliver a higher level of ambition on top of ACRES CP. So new funding is complementary but not double funding.
Stakeholders arent involved in those conversations & dont know who is tbh

For farmers there needs to be a new national fund that sits outside of CAP. Im wondering if the existing CAP infratructure (e.g. IT systems) could be used to funnel payments to farmers. The is talk about expanding the NPWS farm plan scheme but that would require a lot of staffing & capacity building

Hands OFF Nature! - The Environmental Pillar Europe - Don’t turn your back on nature! Behind the EU’s ‘simplification’ agenda, crucial environmental safeguards are being quietly dismantled. We’re not calling deregulation by name, but the reality...

Under the guise of “simplification”, key EU laws protecting clean air & water, public health & nature are under attack

100k + people have already signed the #HandsOFFNature petition calling on EU leaders to protect our shared future

📢 Add your voice now www.environmentalpillar.ie/hands-off-na...

There is still no clarity on what the total costs are or where the funding will come from. I think there is a lot of merit in building on the existing CAP infrastructure for farmland targets with additional funds. Unfortunately the idea has become entrenched that NRL has to sit seperate to CAP

DAFM are leading on the farming elements of the NRP and its clear that CAP will continue to fund agri-env schemes and that any schemes that are relevant will be included in the plan. The Ministers should know all this. I think its a case of them saying what they think farmers want to hear.

That being said we need new funding that is additional to CAP to deliver more ambitious action and I agree we need more longterm schemes across the board. I think a larger NPWS farm plan scheme has merit but I would seriously question the NPWSs capacity to administer a fund on the scale of ACRES.

designed to improve implementation of existing legal obligations from the habitats & birds directives. A large chunk of CAP funding is supposed to deliver on these obligations. It wouldnt make sense to now seperate CAP from Nature & if we did why shouldnt the budget go with it?

Thanks John. The reality is that anything that delivers on the targets of the NRL will be included in the National Restoration Plan. When it comes to farmland the lions share of funding will continue to flow through CAP, so ACRES will be included. The key restoration articles in the law are just...

In Ireland, the futures of farming & nature are inseparable. In Green News, I argue that politicians need to be honest with farmers about the role CAP plays in supporting Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan, & commit to new, additional funding outside of CAP
greennews.ie/in-ireland-t...

"In a disaster, the skeleton of society is laid bare. Politicians need scapegoats when their inability to make hard strategic decisions is exposed...But who rezoned the floodplains,...who has drastically underfunded climate-adaptation measures for the past 20 years?"

Sika deer 'do not have to be culled en masse' - NPWS The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has said that Sika deer in Ireland do not need to be "culled en masse".

A quote in this article by a DAFM spokesperson seems to say that while Sika have been classified an invasive species, they are just another "breed" of deer & will only be incorporated into generic deer management measures

Whats the point of invasive classification?
www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

With so much degraded wetland in public ownership via Coillte, Bord na Móna, NPWS, and ESB, there is no excuse for the State not to identify ambitious wetland restoration projects within Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan.

Progress in restoring raised bog habitats, the Breeding Waders EIP, and the recent return of species like the common crane and osprey provide hope and show what’s possible

World Wetlands Day is as good a time as any to reflect on the fact that numerous global assessments have identified Ireland as having the worst record in the world for the percentage of wetlands lost.

Title: Decline in migratory birds due to climate change

Article: The report finds there is no single pressure driving negative impacts upon waterbird species. Instead, it is a range of complex interacting pressures.

Remind our leaders what people want them to protect: clean air, safe water, and our health 💧

Why? Because right now, they are handing out permits to poison our water, food, and nature 🤢

Don't let that happen. Sign our petition now: handsoffnature.eu#take-action

#HandsOffNature ✋

30-year survey records decline in migratory waterbirds A landmark study charting wetland birds coming here for wintertime over the past 30 years has revealed mixed fortunes for 63 species of migratory waterbirds in Ireland.

A landmark study charting wetland birds coming here for wintertime over the past 30 years has revealed mixed fortunes for 63 species of migratory waterbirds in Ireland

Lá Fhéile Bríde agus Imbolc sona daoibh!

Richard Nairn: How green are greenways? The proposed Wicklow to Greystones Greenway route runs right along the edge of the ecologically sensitive coastal area known as the Murrough Wetlands

How green are greenways?
Some aren't very green at all.
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

We’re not serious about tackling flooding as long the arterial drainage scheme continues to be treated as untouchable. It was built for mid‑20th‑century land drainage, not 21st‑century climate change charged flooding. Its time to store flood water in flood plains not in towns.