This could end up being the most radical of all our national parks...

Brú na Bóinne/Boyne Valley National Park may show us the way back from intensive farming practices that leave so little space for nature

Brú na Bóinne National Park, NPWS — much of the new park is low biodiversity grassland with non-native trees. Pictures: Pádraic Fogarty

In Ireland, nearly 70% of the land is classified as being in agricultural use. More than half of all land in the country is grassland, previously a richly diverse environment with flowers, insects and ground-nesting birds but now a monoculture dependant on high levels of nutrient input and virtually devoid of biodiversity.

Perhaps the county most transformed by agriculture is Meath, up to two-thirds of it is just grass while it has one of the lowest levels of forest or peatlands.