Ireland's call: 'Something in the Atlantic Ocean, Celtic and Irish Seas calls to us from the deep'
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In my early 20s, I thought heading off to sea for months at a time was a perfectly normal thing to do. My father had a small boat in the pier near home and we would go mackerel fishing in the summer back when mackerel was much more abundant than nowadays.
So when I boarded much larger boats to set off to the North Sea, the Mediterranean or to Antarctica in the early 1980s, it was clear that the salt sea had made its way well into my bloodstream, and for good. Many Irish people feel that same attraction and connection to the sea, though sometimes you wouldn’t think it given how the State has treated our maritime space since Independence.
We are an island nation, yet it would be difficult to say we have the same relationship with the seas as our not-so-distant island neighbours in Iceland or Atlantic-dominated Portugal. Our fisheries and ports, spurned by our former colonial rulers, have continued to fall victim to Ireland’s historic neglect of our maritime heritage even after 1921.
Our Atlantic ports in Galway, Clare and Kerry remain underdeveloped compared to sister ports in the UK and mainland Europe. Our naval service, which carries out vital roles both off our shores and in the Mediterranean, is composed of just 6 ships compared to 36 in nearby Portugal. These days, Portugal even has a Minister of the Sea dedicated to the marine and maritime affairs.
And yet despite it all, there is something in the Atlantic Ocean, Celtic and Irish Seas that still calls to us from the deep.
As the Atlantic Ocean, Celtic and Irish Seas come under increasing strain from climate change, acidification and even the weakening of the Gulf Stream, it’s time we answer the call with a little more than the usual platitudes. I have been heartened to be a part of this response in recent years as an MEP.
Across Europe, there has been a wave of support for action on climate change and biodiversity decline over the last decade. A lot has been made in Ireland about the need to examine our relationship with the land and bring nature back into the way we organise our towns, farm the land, produce and consume on a daily basis.
But this approach also repeats some of the mistakes of the past. As a nation in the embrace of the Atlantic Ocean we need to look past our shorelines for opportunities for solving our climate and biodiversity crises. To do this we need to face up to the dire conditions we have left our marine area in.
On dry land in tourist shops in every town, we are still more than happy to sell postcards of breathtaking cliffs and romantic seaside scenes. On closer inspection of these idyllic scenes of white beaches and rocky islands, however, we can see a much darker reality. A reality that shows how for decades the State only really saw the coast as a dumping ground for waste and sewage and a place to potentially drill for gas deposits.
By the latest count, raw sewage continues to flow into rivers and seas in at least 32 Irish towns at a rate of almost 7.5 million litres every day. Very few of Ireland’s marine habitats are now in good health, while only half of the rivers that flow to the sea are in ‘satisfactory condition’ due mainly to agricultural and urban pollution.
Over recent decades the State has established a network of over 600 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) intended to restore nature and protect bird species as a priority. It was a noble effort, but it still left us with the fourth lowest level of environmental protection in Europe. On top of that successive governments have become adept at skirting the commitments and promises of these conservation areas, to the point where many SPAs exist just as lines on a map.
This could be all about to change though, as Ireland is looking at a new decade of ocean and maritime action unprecedented in its scope.
On an EU level, the ‘European Green Deal’ has been the focus of my time in Brussels as an MEP. While it may not have been as ambitious as I would have liked, the EU Green Deal has been the overarching description given to a suite of climate and environmental proposals brought forward by the European Commission. With a Green Party navigating steadily the choppy waters of government coalition in Dublin, the European Green Deal legislation has come at a good time to be put into action on the ground.
As a result of this process, keep an eye out for the Marine Protected Areas Bill set to be published in the coming weeks from the office of Minister Malcolm Noonan. This Bill for the first time in Irish history puts the ocean at the centre of Ireland’s very identity, with the aim of protecting a massive 30% of our seas by 2030.
This April I had the great pleasure of taking a boat from Ventry Pier to the Great Blasket Islands, which lie at the centre of an area of outstanding Atlantic beauty that could very soon be a Marine Protected Area (MPA). As I looked out at the rolling sea I thought what it would feel like to be the first person in a new National Park. With new Marine Protected Areas we would be essentially designating natural heritage to be cherished by generations to come as a part of our intangible cultural and natural heritage.
Perhaps the final piece of the European Green Deal as we know it will be the Nature Restoration Law. While some disinformation abounds about the potential impacts of this piece of legislation, which intends to repair significant damage done to Europe’s degraded habitats, one important element of this proposed legislation has been entirely ignored by its detractors.
This groundbreaking measure, if implemented, will see at least 20% of our seas restored to healthy status by 2030. It will also see the removal of ma- made river barriers so that a massive 25,000km of European rivers will return to free-flowing state. This will be instrumental if we are to see the recovery of the Wild Atlantic salmon or the endangered European eel.
Meanwhile, I have never seen the scale of investment in Ireland’s ports as is happening today. Following a European Parliament fact-finding mission to Ireland in May, I reported back to the Parliament Committee that places like Rosslare Europort which was historically a relatively small ferry and freight port, now found itself a new role as the most important connection between Ireland and mainland Europe following Brexit. Ports in Galway and Ringaskiddy are well underway for new phases of expansion too.
These initiatives and legislation come at a time when Irish people are more interested than ever in our relationship with our oceans and seas. Even during the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a surge in sea swimming and beach clean-up activities led by incredible activists like June Curtin of Snámhaí Sásta in Clare and Flossie Donnelly of the ‘Flossie and the Beach Cleaners’ group.
These community activities, often led by women, popped up across the country as we found new ways to keep ourselves busy and healthy and maintain that social contact we desperately needed in the darkest of times. As a result, many of us rediscovered our connection with the sea, and found a link between healthy oceans and healthy humans.
None of this should be taken for granted of course. And as elections approach either in Ireland or in Europe, environmental measures are often the first on the political chopping block. Already the Nature Restoration Law is coming under serious pressure from lobby groups in Brussels and Dublin while Marine Protected Areas are facing serious pushback from industrial fisheries lobbies and fossil fuel companies. This World Oceans Day, I will be reflecting on Ireland’s role in the future of the European Green Deal, and how our greatest gift to the world could very well be a healthy and thriving Irish Ocean.