Donal Hickey: Plastic — the very visible bane of marine life

You don’t have to go any further than your nearest shoreline to get a glimpse of what’s happening worldwide with plastic in the oceans

Old fishing nets and plastic rubbish gathered from the beach at Long Strand, West Cork. File Picture Dan Linehan

It was a like a childhood bolt for freedom. No sooner had the 5km travel restriction been lifted than people who were able to do so headed to their nearest beach.

A chill in the air there might have been, but people strolling beaches in Youghal, Inchydoney, Barleycove and other such places along the Co Cork coast made it feel like summer. Their smiling faces beaming from photographs in this paper showed how happy they were to be there again.