Important nuance recognised in these two articles relevant to our fire debate: "Abandonment of agricultural systems, unaccompanied by nature restoration, has led to the accumulation of scrub fuel burdens that feed the fires" www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...

The Irish Times view on Ireland’s EU presidency: wildfires send a clear message

Without a liveable environment, competitiveness will be an empty aspiration

irishtimes.com

For many years, watching fires devour our hills I wonder: will this be the fire that changes things? www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

‘What was a beautiful habitat now is black soot’: Ireland’s wildfires devastate wildlife

Mammals, small reptiles and amphibians losing shelter and food due to blazes in Tipperary, Wicklow and Waterford

irishtimes.com

The IFA must surely know there is no future in this policy which has already resulted in so much damage www.farmersjournal.ie/sheep/news/r...

Link to podcast I did with @thejournal.ie this week on fires, why the hills are flammable when they should be wet and why we need to get serious about rewilding www.thejournal.ie/podcasts/66f...

Could nature itself help stop Ireland's wildfires?

Read, share and shape the news on TheJournal.ie - Breaking Irish and International News

thejournal.ie

🚨Pearl Mussel Kill on the Owenriff river in Co. Galway! Devastating news shared with us by our member organisation, Carra Mask Corrib Water Protection Group! Much more needs to be done to protect freshwater pearl mussels and the clean, free-flowing rivers on which they depend.

I spoke to @newstalkfm.bsky.social yesterday about fires, land use and the urgent need for native forests on our hills www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

What needs to be done to prevent future wildfires? | Newstalk

A wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary has "reduced significantly", according to Tipperary Cou...

newstalk.com

Fires in Slievenamon, Connemara and Killarney show our hills are on life support - @whittledaway.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Fires in Slievenamon, Connemara and Killarney show our hills are on life support

We should invest in mountains like we invest in schools, roads and hospitals, and acknowledge Slievenamon, along with all other hills, has been sick for some time and needs help if it is going to reco...

irishexaminer.com

Even before last week's fire, Slievenamon was a sick and neglected mountain. If it is to recover, it will need investment and rehabilitation. My story for today's @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Fires in Slievenamon, Connemara and Killarney show our hills are on life support

We should invest in mountains like we invest in schools, roads and hospitals, and acknowledge Slievenamon, along with all other hills, has been sick for some time and needs help if it is going to reco...

irishexaminer.com

Ireland's fire laws are "30 years" out of date, warns ecologist @whittledaway.bsky.social. He says more forest fires are inevitable unless land use changes - noting while native Irish forests aren't flammable, "we've cleared out nearly all" of them from hills youtu.be/p5r6u07Z4jI

Irish laws around starting fires stuck '30 years' in the past - Ecologist | RTÉ News

YouTube video by RTÉ News

youtu.be

I was on the radio this morning talking about the urgent need to get native forests back onto the hills www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

How prepared is Ireland for future forest fires?

Ecologist & Author, Pádraic Fogarty on what needs to be done to further tackle wildfires in Ireland.

rte.ie

Was at @irishrainforest.bsky.social's beautiful documentary tonight, highly recommend! Check out the trailer here vimeo.com/1211649058/7...

Great work today with volunteers from Galway Beach Cleaners, we removed nearly 900kg of rubbish from this short stretch of coast!

NEW INVESTIGATION: Despite escaping the 'mega fires' seen in countries such as Spain and Greece, Ireland actually has one of Europe’s highest rates of wildfire overlap with protected nature sites, we can reveal

Ireland has one of Europe’s highest rates of wildfire overlap with protected nature sites

Following a spate of devastating wildfires, analysis has found that more than half of the land burned here over the past decade overlapped with protected nature areas – significantly higher than the...

jrnl.ie

Fire crews had brought the Slievenamon blaze largely under control until, on Wednesday, a sharp change in wind saw the flames pushed towards a nearby Coillte forest. It’s had some asking if the type of tree planted on the mountain made this week's wildfires worse www.thejournal.ie/slievenamon-...

Has the type of tree planted on Slievenamon made this week's wildfires worse?

Sitka spruce, which originates in North America, is a staple of Coillte forests, but has long been criticised by environmentalists.

thejournal.ie

A red flag in the recently published draft law for Marine Protected Areas is the veto power given to the Department of Agriculture. It's vital that this is resolved if we're not to end up with yet more paper parks. www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...

Uneasy sea-bedfellows: Oceans of conflict around fishing and conservation

A major impediment to fishermen effectively becoming guardians of the seas and leading on restoration efforts is the complex manner in which the sea is managed

irishexaminer.com

Conifer monocultures exacerbate fire risk but the foretry industry has strongly resisted efforts at reform. Native forests would not burn like this because they are not flammable. jrnl.ie/7112037

Has the type of tree planted on Slievenamon made this week's wildfires worse?

Sitka spruce, which originates in North America, is a staple of Coillte forests, but has long been criticised by environmentalists.

jrnl.ie

Has the type of tree planted on Slievenamon made this week's wildfires worse? Coillte insists its Sitka spruce species has no bearing on the spread of wildfires, but an ecologist has questioned whether the trees are more flammable in hotter, drier weather. www.thejournal.ie/slievenamon-...

Has the type of tree planted on Slievenamon made this week's wildfires worse?

Sitka spruce, which originates in North America, is a staple of Coillte forests, but has long been criticised by environmentalists.

thejournal.ie

I'm really thrilled to see this development (coming 24 years since the commitment was first made). We finally will have a chance to put in law that National Parks are primarily for nature! www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Not a lot of detail here but it's good news if there is indeed progress on legislation for National Parks. This was first promised in 2002, 24 years ago! www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Cabinet to consider law to fine people who use disposable barbecues in national parks

Proposal comes after wildfire, suspected to have been caused by disposable barbecue, destroyed 20 hectares of Killarney National Park

irishtimes.com

Fantastic news for lynx in Sain! www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2...

Iberian lynx snapped in Basque Country after 100 year absence

A farmer's camera trap set up to watch wildlife visiting his land in Campezo, Alava, caught the radio-collared cat, thought to have travelled from the south.

theolivepress.es

Well done to the National Parks and Wildlife Service staff for securing this conviction against someone who power-hosed 57 house martin nests off a house wall to 'clean it up' for a sales viewing www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/crime-c...

Man and woman in court after 57 nests ‘blasted’ off Laois house

The woman who works for an estate agent directed the man to clean the house

leinsterexpress.ie

"A new report confirms that over one-third of wild Atlantic salmon populations in Ireland [which are essentially collapsed] now carry genetic material from escaped farmed fish, raising urgent concerns over the long-term survival of the iconic species" oceanographicmagazine.com/news/one-thi...

One-third of wild Irish Atlantic salmon carry farmed fish genetics

Scientists say the mixing of genes could ‘seriously hamper’ Atlantic salmon’s capacity to adapt to global warming

oceanographicmagazine.com

Silent but violent, cows' and other farm animals' farts (agricultural methane) heat the planet 80 times more than CO2 over a 20-year time frame But Ireland wants the EU to give cow farts a free pass, raising serious questions about its claim to be a climate leader www.desmog.com/2026/07/14/c...

Can Ireland Deliver as ‘Honest Broker’? Here’s What’s at Stake for Climate and Nature in EU Council Presidency

Environmental campaigners are urging Ireland to protect the public interest and resist industry pressure as the country takes up the presidency of the EU Council. The EU’s top agricultural polluter to...

desmog.com

This is why we can't have rich ecosystems and safe food. The farm lobby threatens us all. www.grilled.media/inside-copa-...

Inside Big Ag’s plot to kill the EU Green Deal

Documents from inside Europe's most powerful farming lobby reveal plans to block efforts to cut pesticide use and reduce factory farm pollution

grilled.media

This story is from 2021 and we're now dealing with another major fire in the Killarney National Park. What has changed in 5 years? The main thing is that staff are much better equipped to deal with fires and perhaps the result is that the impact of this fire... www.irishtimes.com/news/environ...

Emergency services tackle huge fire in Killarney National Park

Blaze fanned by strong breeze appears to have destroyed oakwoods at Eagles Nest

irishtimes.com

Another recent Science & Climate page in @irishtimes.com had @whittledaway.bsky.social report on the slow and complex official response to the fast declining hen harrier population.... www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Embattled hen harrier clings on - but its future is far from certain

Once-common bird of prey is at the centre of tensions over land use for farming and forestry

irishtimes.com

Up is down; black is white; and habitat destruction doesn't hurt endangered species.

Trump rule says habitat destruction does not harm endangered species

A new rule rescinds the definition of what it means to “harm” a plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act and could lead to more habitat destruction.

washingtonpost.com

It is good news - even if the process is taking way too long - that we now have draft legislation for Marine Protected Areas 🐬 On first reading there are good things in it but my biggest concern (among others) is the need for any measure affecting fishing to first... www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Ministers O’Brien and Dooley drive forward Marine Protected Areas legislation that will safeguard Irish Seas

gov.ie

Reminder: world’s oceans absorb 90% of global warming; this massive heat buffer is now almost completely saturated. 🚨 “Nearly 40% of oceans worldwide undergoing marine heatwaves, with intense hot patches in Mediterranean Sea & Pacific Ocean >10F hotter than usual”. grist.org/climate/heat...

The oceans are full of heat, and it's coming ashore

The oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat from global warming. It doesn't all stay there.

grist.org