We need to stop killing dandelions and this is why For that flare of yellow to appear, the plant must spread its seeds, and it is that seed head which is a design marvel

‘If I were to invent an Irish nickname for the dandelion, it would be something like An Bhialann Órga, the golden restaurant.’
Beautiful piece by @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social
Archive link in comments
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2...

"In the future, standing either side of the river Shannon on drained bogs, we'll look back and ask, 'How did we get this so wrong?'"

Strong piece from Ella McSweeney. I watched this account of the Abbeyleix bog project just last week. We can save these ecosystems: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaFa...

Ella McSweeney: Cornafulla Bog is a gold mine. Let’s not squander it Siting wind infrastructure on the Shannon bogs is too high a price to pay for renewable energy

The irreplaceable Shannon bogs warrant full restoration. What we stand to lose by draining them for energy infrastructure is trading a guaranteed long-term asset for short-term expedience and convenience.

By me for the @irishtimes.com

#cornafulla

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

‘I’m not a natural-born killer but I’ve learned to shoot ethically and I’ll help cull deer’ Ella McSweeney is not a natural-born killer but she will shoot deer next month for the first time. It’s for the woodlands

"In a world humans have broken, conservation and restoration also requires perpetual, unglamorous killing."

Deer culling and the control of invasive species are not exceptions but integral parts of modern conservation, uncomfortable, yet unavoidable realities.
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

‘I’m not a natural-born killer but I’ve learned to shoot ethically and I’ll help cull deer’ Ella McSweeney is not a natural-born killer but she will shoot deer next month for the first time. It’s for the woodlands

‘I’m not a natural-born killer but I’ve learned to shoot ethically and I’ll help cull deer’

Looking forward to my discussion with @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social @granardbooktown.bsky.social 19/4 2026

Come for the craic and stay for the craic!

#books #festival #ireland #literature #writers #author #firsbook

🌳 🌿 🌍🦤🧪🦊📚💙

@pelagic.bsky.social @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social @aicbrn.bsky.social

Could Ireland’s burial grounds become memorial places where our late loved ones are remembered not with the deadly permanence of plastic, but with plants, flowers and trees that will, like all of us, eventually return to the earth?

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

I wrote a bit about the recent Coolglass court judgement and how it has revealed a deeper crisis: Ireland’s land-use policy is a fragmented, siloed, splintered mess.

“We need an overarching national policy based on evidence, data and a judgment about what is fair and reasonable for local communities.”

- @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social

Yes. Long overdue.

Ireland doesn’t have time for wind farm battles Ella McSweeney: A recent verdict showed climate law can’t fix what politics won’t

'And so we get to the real crisis: Ireland’s land-use policy is a fragmented, siloed, splintered mess.'
- Excellent, honest writing, as usual, from @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Tomorrow, Too Big to Fail, a doc on Larry Goodman, is a reminder of one of the most important moments in Irish investigative journalism, when Susan O’Keeffe took on a story many believed was untouchable.
Monday 9th March, 9.35pm, @rteone.rte.ie

Being in nature can be deeply restorative – something we all too easily forget Losing routine contact with the living world results in less concern, less protection and less access. The antidote is evidence that conservation works

For me, nothing heals better than being alone in the wild.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

He rarely gives interviews. At 89, he‘a the largest exporter of beef in Europe. €2.5b in annual turnover. Ireland's biggest player in private healthcare. A vast property empire.

Now, for the first time: his story.

📺 Too Big to Fail by Ciarán Cassidy, Ella McSweeney, Hugh Ormond & Colum McKeown

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

Nature and climate funding must now be articulated as infrastructure: as essential to food systems, public health, energy stability and geopolitical resilience. In security terms, biodiversity is not sentimental, it is strategic.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

The Dublin city half hectare that became a self-sustaining sanctuary for nature, until recent clearance works - photo 2023 (left) and 2025 (right)

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

“All of the reductions in carbon emissions we’ve achieved through sustainable sources and electric vehicles will be reversed by the inexorable rise and insatiable appetite of AI” @financialtimes.com

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I loved reading this and its lessons on curiosity and happening upon any of the myriad wonders our planet has wrought that empower us to access awe.

"In many ways, cotterite is as much a story about attention – paying it and following it... – as it is about chemistry and geology."

#Geology #Earth

Boy (7) strikes it lucky by finding one of the world’s rarest minerals near his home in Cork Within seconds of handing it over to an expert, it was clear quartz discovery was very special

Wrote a bit about a 7 year old boy who found one of the world’s rarest minerals near his home in Cork, and the geologist Dr Patrick Roycroft who brought the story together…

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Voiceless and vulnerable, Brent geese find themselves blamed for Irish building delays Absence of real political leadership leaves Ireland at risk of becoming hostile to wildlife

Good article from @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social - this is but one example where lack of spatial planning causes conflict when land with environmental constraints is zoned for development.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Voiceless and vulnerable, Brent geese find themselves blamed for Irish building delays Absence of real political leadership leaves Ireland at risk of becoming hostile to wildlife

Framing Dublin’s housing delays as “geese vs the people” is erroneous & misleading.

Brent geese aren’t the problem - a broken planning system is.

@irishtimes.com

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Ella McSweeney: Let’s be ambitious for a plan to establish a real record of the majestic Shannon’s condition If 14 countries can come together to understand the Danube, surely Ireland can do the same for a far shorter river?

Let’s be ambitious for a plan to establish a real record of the majestic Shannon’s condition

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

An extraordinary find in the Irish Sea left experts gobsmacked Ella McSweeney: Is a once-common species returning to the Irish Sea thanks to overspill from marine protected areas elsewhere?

A few weeks ago, a local walking along Bray seafront came across a leathery, pouch-shaped object with tendrils on each corner. It turned out to be a flapper skate egg case - a find so rare in the Irish Sea that scientists have been left astonished.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

On Environmental Democracy and the Collisons’ “Abundance-Verse” Andrew Jackson 21 November 2025 I. Introduction A clamour of praise greeted John Collison’s “how to get Ireland moving” Op-Ed following its publication in the Irish Times on 25th October: the Irish…

Rebuttal to John Collison's highly contested Irish Times “sermon to the nation", by lawyer @andrewlrjackson.bsky.social. A fact-check pushing back on the tech-optimist, deregulation-first vision - defending environmental law, democratic oversight & evidence-based planning elajucd.com/2025/11/21/o...

Nick and Cass McCarthy's Lúnasa Farm In 2021, Nick and Cass McCarthy set up Lúnasa Farm on 30 acres of land in Co. Clare. Neither of them comes from a farming background. Nick’s an engineer by trade, and he met Cass while working in her ...

“How do you build a local food community when the money is not going towards the people who are trying to do that?”

Cass & Nick on the challenges of being small-scale farmers in Ireland - www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... @rteradio1.bsky.social

Ella McSweeney: Lough Derg is drifting towards the same fate as Lough Neagh Lough Derg has been so reshaped by pollution that its original character is almost impossible to discern

Treat Lough Derg like a bin, and it will show you what that looks like.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Rules to protect Ireland’s fragile rivers are being repeatedly breached Public records about North Cork Creameries’ operations paint a disquieting picture of how regulators are performing

Public records about North Cork Creameries - a company that is a "leading supplier of butter to the internationally renowned Kerrygold brand" - paint a disquieting picture of how regulators are performing

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Saving Abbeyleix Bog 25 years ago, 37 locals protested to save Abbeyleix Bog, now a local centre for locals, tourists and nature.

25 years ago local community stood up for bog's protection for people, place and nature - celebrating community action #Abbeyleix @communitywetlands.bsky.social @tocharstories.bsky.social
beautiful storytelling via @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social @rteradio1.bsky.social
www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Ecological tragedy in Clare heralds imminent water crisis in Ireland Ballymacraven river may never recover from pollution that killed thousands of fish, an incident that highlights an even wider problem as the State’s water treatment infrastructure creaks under growing...

This article by Ella McSweeney covers a fish die-off in one of Ireland’s rivers like a crime story. Brilliant read.

“Using their 40-year data set and historical research as far back as 1886, Little and Sterling see the extent of the decline of life in the lake. Life is draining away. It is, says Little, “very sad”.”
#loughhyne

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...