Letter to the Editor: Destruction of nature reserve in Tallaght
Last Monday I was disappointed but not surprised to see that yet another area of natural importance has disappeared at the hands of ignorance and short-sightedness.
The nature reserve in Tallaght was home to a wide array of wetland creatures, but alas, today it’s a flattened area of muck and dirt. And nobody will be prosecuted.
This is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg. Areas rich in wildlife get butchered every single day here, at the hands of the bulldozer or the chainsaw, and sadly 99% of it happens without anybody batting an eyelid, apart from a select few “eccentrics” and “awkward people” who want to “hold everything up”. That’s, I’m afraid, the culture we have created in this country.
Of course, we are slightly better at protecting our wildlife than decades ago, yet there are still many people in local authorities and politicians that see biodiversity protection as a pain in the backside. Didn’t Bertie Ahern, not so long ago at all, coin the phrase: “slugs and snails holding up everything”? Before the the Celtic Tiger, hundreds of nature reserves were designated across the country. During it, almost 50% were built over.
What is, I ask, the point in the masses of protests about climate change and global warming if we can’t even protect our wildlife? This county is really years behind most other European countries in terms of wildlife protection. All well and good to say “we’re only a small country” and all that, but I’m afraid that argument doesn’t hold up — in this country, greyhound racing, for example, has a higher budget than our National Parks and Wildlife Service.
In short, people in this country need to see the benefits of a healthy countryside — and fast. I know the phrase is overused, but our wildlife is disappearing at an alarming rate.
Tourists won’t flock to see a car park or a housing estate, that’s for sure.
I fear what our countryside will look like in the very near future if things don’t change quickly.
(Any facts mentioned were sourced from the book Whittled Away by Padraig Fogarty of the Irish Wildlife Trust.)
Ballaghaderreen
Co Roscommon
