‘Gearagh can be Ireland’s next national park’

A NATURE reserve could be Ireland’s next national park, such is its international importance, a meeting in West Cork has heard.

The Gearagh is a submerged woodland just outside Macroom which was flooded with the construction of the Inniscarra electricity project. A meeting which took place at Kilmurry Independence Museum last weekend saw calls to make it Ireland’s seventh – and Cork’s first – national park. 

The meeting included contributions from ecologist and author Kevin Corcoran and Green Party local election candidate Harriet Burgess. 

Harriet Burgess said it was time to raise awareness of the potential of the Gearagh. ‘We need a change of politics when it comes to the Gearagh. Immediate actions that could be taken by local government to improve access and awareness about the Gearagh river forest include improving pedestrian routes between the Gearagh and Macroom, launching an awareness raising campaign, and providing adequate signage,’ she said.

‘The Okavango River Delta in Botswana as well as the River Napo in Ecuador are similar in structure to the Gearagh, and due to the rarity of these formations, they are afforded vast protections, through national legislation and national park status. We now need to ask the question: do we need a change of management to ensure protection of the Gearagh into the future?’

Ireland South Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan said after the event that the Gearagh is ‘clearly an extraordinary and special site with a high value for biodiversity’. 

‘We all share the desire to improve the ecological status of the Gearagh and to ensure it is an amenity that the public can enjoy. Parallel conversations about the Nature Restoration Law in Europe and Ireland’s national plans to restore nature could complement these calls to create and protect this special place for nature and people alike.’