A visit to all eight of Ireland's National Parks

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Páirceanna Náisiúnta: A visit to each of Ireland's National Parks and a look at their plans for the future

Over the past year I have visited all eight of Ireland’s National Parks in the company of the people who run them on behalf of the public: the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). It was a repeat of a tour I did in 2015-2016 when I was researching my book Whittled Away, at a time when there were only six.

At that time, I found a universal state of neglect and abandonment: repeated fires in Wicklow Mountains, runaway grazing and rhododendron infestation in Killarney, barren hills in Glenveagh and Connemara and promises waiting to be fulfilled in Wild Nephin. Only in the Burren was there any proactive initiative delivering outcomes for nature.