All Posts by Grace Carr

Press Release 20th March 2025 The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling for the Irish Government to submit their overdue national roadmap for phasing out destructive fishing in Marine Protected Areas.    A new study released today by Seas at Risk, Oceana and ClientEarth, environmental NGOs working on marine conservation issues, shows that, despite EU nature […]

  The EU Ocean Pact was proposed by the European Commission and aims to bring coherence across any EU policies which are linked to the ocean. Some of the goals of the pact are to achieve healthy, resilient and thriving oceans and coastal communities and to promote a successful and sustainable blue economy.   At […]

Press release  Date: 23rd January 2025 Irish Wildlife Trust calls on an Taoiseach, Michaél Martin, to show leadership for nature and treat the climate and biodiversity crises as the emergencies they are.   The Irish Wildlife Trust looks forward to engaging with new Government Ministers on environmental issues and calls for the reinstatement of a […]

Press release: Talks at COP16 in Colombia suspended without decision on financing reached   After an intense 2 weeks of negotiations at COP16,  talks have been suspended at the final hurdle around the topic of resource mobilisation and financing.   Talks carried on through the final night of the conference and were suspended this morning […]

Press Release   86% of Irish people support stricter protection of Marine Protected Areas   25 June 2024   New polls released today show that 86% of citizens across 7 EU countries expect their political leaders to prioritise the protection of marine biodiversity. An independent polling company interviewed approximately 1000 people in each of the […]

Press Release   A Historic Day for Europe and Nature   17th June 2024   The EU Nature Restoration Law is finally passed by the EU Council of Environmental Minister’s after several years of negotiations   The EU Nature restoration Law which aims to restore 20% of EU land and 20% of EU seas was […]

Press Release   IWT welcomes government support for Nature Restoration Law and calls on other states to step up for nature.    14/6/2023   The Nature Restoration Law is officially on the agenda for debate and a potential vote in the upcoming EU Environment Council meeting on the 17th June.    This is the final […]

Ireland’s first Marine National Park – what does it mean for nature?   Published: April 25th 2024   On the 22nd of April, Irish Ministers announced Ireland’s first Marine National Park, Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara. This will be Ireland’s largest National Park covering more than 70,000 acres of land and sea. This is an inspiring […]

Press Release Nature Restoration Law passed by European Parliament 27th February 2024    The Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes the passing of the Nature Restoration Law and believes this is a substantial step forward on the way to restoring our degraded ecosystems. While the law has been weakened since the Commission’s original proposal back in 2022, it […]

Press Release Environmental NGOs Rebukes Government For Slow Progress On Key Ocean Protection Legislation Published: 25 October 2023 Fair Seas Coalition deliver 11,758 signature petition calling for urgent legislation A coalition of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs has strongly criticised the government for failing to publish key legislation that would protect Irish seas and help tackle […]

Press Release EU Nature Restoration Law cannot restore marine ecosystems without addressing Fisheries Impacts 28th September 2023   After the Summer recess in the EU Parliament, final trilogue negotiations have begun on the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) and will determine how ambitious and effective this law will be. The negotiations will take place between the […]

The Nature Restoration Law was proposed by the European Commission in June 2022. This law is part of the EU Biodiversity Strategy which is a key element to the European Green Deal. It aims to help recover Europe’s extreme biodiversity loss by 2030.   The original text which was proposed had restoration targets to cover […]

Press Release  Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes new marine designations but warns that fisheries must be controlled if they are to be effective. 14th July 2023   The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) welcomes the latest announcement of a large new Special Protection Area (SPA) in the north-west Irish Sea. SPAs are designated under existing legislation for the protection […]

Ireland has lost a case brought to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission over its failure to implement the Habitats Directive. The judgement occurred on the 29th of June after a lengthy case and highlights Ireland’s consistent failure to protect nature on land and at sea.   Recap   In 2004, 423 […]

Press Release Irish MEPs must support a strong Nature Restoration Law at the European Parliament meeting in July   27th June 2023   Today, MEPs in the European Parliament committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) concluded their voting on the Nature Restoration Law (NRL). The final vote was tied 44-44 which means […]

Press Release MEPs have voted to keep the Nature Restoration Law alive and fought off attempts to quash it by the European People’s Party (Fine Geal’s European group) 15th June  2023   A key vote in Strasbourg has kept hopes alive for the livelihoods of millions of workers and the wellbeing of the planet. Voting […]

Five years after the initial proposal to reform the EU Fisheries Control Regulation, the EU Council and Parliament have finally come to an agreement in trilogue negotiations on the European Commissions proposal. The EU Fisheries Control Regulation helps to ensure that the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) are followed by all those fishing […]

Press Release Irish political leaders must support Nature Restoration in the European Parliament May 25th 2023   The Irish Wildlife Trust is calling on all political leaders in Ireland to ensure that their MEPs support the Nature Restoration Law in the European Parliament This week the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries (PECH) and Agriculture and […]

The European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is the first continent-wide comprehensive law to restore Europe’s degraded ecosystems on land and sea. The climate and biodiversity crisis are two sides of the same coin and we must tackle them simultaneously. Having healthy ecosystems will not only help to mitigate climate change it will also offer natural […]

Birdwatch Ireland in collaboration with the IWT has created a petition calling on the Minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Charlie Mc Conalogue to block a new dangerous proposal which could have devastating effects on fish stocks and incentivise overfishing and underreporting. It has been proposed that the 10% Margin of Tolerance (MoT) should […]

Northern Ireland miles ahead of Republic in protecting inshore waters by Grace Carr March 30th 2023 New fisheries management measures were enacted this year in Northern Ireland which will prohibit bottom trawling in nine inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). There will also be measures put in place in these MPAs for static gear such as pot fishing. […]

IWT response to MSFD Programme of Measures March 7th 2023 New measures for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive are  welcome and needed if we are to achieve Good Environmental Status in all descriptors. It is therefore disappointing to see that some new measures are vague, non-committal and are inadequate for reaching Good Environmental Status.   ©Grainne […]

New Irish Fishing Quota for Vulnerable Spurdog 23rd February 2023 A new Irish quota for the IUCN listed vulnerable spurdog (Squalus acanthias) for 1,874 tonnes was announced for 2023. Minister McConalogue stated that “When we reopen the fishery, measures will be put in place to require that larger spurdog are avoided to allow them to […]

EU Nature Restoration Law – What does it mean for marine conservation? What’s happening? In June 2022 the European Commission proposed the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) to bring nature back to Europe. This law has legally binding restoration targets for marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The goal is to have 20% of land and sea ecosystems […]