Midlands walking shop instead of talking shop

The Shannon is the only major European river which has not been drained despite all the promises made over the years by politicians…

The Shannon is the only major European river which has not been drained despite all the promises made over the years by politicians.

Environmentalists are delighted that the politicians broke their promises as the Shannon is now unique in Europe in having so much of its original habitat.

Had the politicians carried out their pledges, according to Ms Eanna Ni Lamhna, the river banks would have been destroyed with material taken from the river bed.

"It has happened to all the major rivers in Europe but, fortunately for us, it has not happened here. We are left with a real gem," she said.

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Ms Ni Lamhna, whose voice is well known because of her extensive radio and television work on the environment and science, was in Lanesboro, Co Longford, this week for the announcement of the Lough Ree Environmental Summer School.

Ms Ni Lamhna, Dick Warner and John Feehan will be the main attractions at the school which will focus on the bio-diversity of the Midlands bogs and the Shannon.

Because the environment is so fragile, the numbers attending the four-day school will have to be limited.

The school will not just be a talking shop but more of a walking shop. Participants will be taken out and about to see what the area has to offer and lectures will actually be given in the bogs and on the river.

Running from Thursday, July 23rd, to Sunday, July 26th, the school will have the services of archaeologist Prof Barry Raftery, who excavated the Corlea bog-road, and environment consultant Ms Cathryn Hannon.

To emphasise the mobile nature of the school, the press conference announcing details of it was given aboard the Newtowncashel-based Bona Spes, a cruiser, in the middle of Lough Ree.

Ms Ni Lamhna said there was a strong scientific basis for holding the school in the peatlands district of the midlands around Lanesboro.

She pointed out that 15 per cent of Ireland's original flora is peatland plants and that 59 species of birds depend on peatlands in some phases of their life-cycles.

Ms Hannon added that 49 per cent of endangered birds in Ireland occur in peatlands and 26 per cent of mammals depend on peatlands at some time in their lives.

Some 23 per cent of our endangered plants are peatland species.

She said other attractions around Lough Ree included St John's Wood, which has unique trees, orchids and other plants.

The lake provided a home for the endangered common scooter, terns and other threatened species. Winter concentrations of wildfowl can sometimes reach 25,000 birds.

Ciaran Mullooly of RTE, who is chairman of the summer school committee, said the purpose of the event was to raise local, regional and national awareness of this unique environment and to help educate people on the origin of the beauty within their reach.

"The organisers are unashamedly promoting tourism in the course of the weekend, with strong hopes that the event will bring visitors in greater numbers to the midlands from throughout the country.

"We are not specifically targeting an academic audience because we know that the entire community holds a keen interest in our environment."

The school will run alongside an arts festival, which will also adopt the environmental theme.

Details of the event from 04321977.