Ireland "will be left as a sadder and wiser place" if the so-called Celtic Tiger is allowed to continue "eating up" its rural landscapes, according to the environmental campaigner, Prof David Bellamy.
Presenting the 1999 ESB Community Environment Awards in Dublin yesterday, he said Ireland was "the only country in the world that can have its cake and eat it", and he called on the Government to plan for a "totally sustainable green" future. Economic growth had meant that development was "happening too fast in the wrong places for the wrong reasons", Prof Bellamy said. "The Ring of Kerry has become the Ring of Buses, and that's not in the interests of local people."
Neither was the proliferation of holiday homes in Kerry or elsewhere, nor Bord na Mona turning the bogs into "wastelands". Similarly, the demolition of Georgian houses in Dublin would put off thousands of tourists from visiting the city, he said.
He told The Irish Times later that he was aware that the ESB headquarters, where yesterday's awards were presented, had sacrificed 14 Georgian houses, saying he had stood in picket lines to prevent similar destruction.
Prof Bellamy, who is best known for his television botany programmes, said he was convinced that a "green renaissance" was under way, with a lot of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to protect their environment.
"The Government needs to give some money to the Conservation Volunteers of Ireland (which organised the Community Environment Awards) so that they can work with farmers and other landowners to put the environment back in working order."
Prof Bellamy said the transition to subsidy-free agricultural production was going to be difficult. Farmers needed to be "weaned off" the over-use of pesticides and fertilisers because of the damage these products were doing to wetlands and watercourses.
Larchill Arcadian Gardens in Co Kildare emerged as the overall winner of the 1999 ESB Community Environment Awards, selected from more than 300 submissions by a jury chaired by Mr Dick Warner, the broadcaster and environmentalist.
The project, which involves restoring one of the few remaining fermes ornees in Europe, complete with 10 castellated follies, won the top prize of £2,500. It will be used to fund a lecture series for students and children visiting Larchill.
Runners-up were the Fenor Bog restoration project in Co Waterford; Limerick Civic Trust, for its work on No 2 Pery Square, Limerick; Crampton Buildings in Dublin's Temple Bar for its composting scheme, and Bray School Project's wildlife garden.
Mr Barney Whelan, the ESB's public affairs manager, said the awards recognised the efforts being made by communities to improve their local environment.
