No. There are those who try to brush off our concerns or call us NIMBYs, while taking no time to inform themselves about our work, all done on a voluntary basis, or look at the science that supports it.

Our well justified fear is that important functioning marine and coastal ecosystems will be destroyed as a result of Ireland’s lax permitting regime for offshore wind infrastructure. This, combined with the government’s inordinate delay in putting in place protection for marine habitats and species (Marine Protected Areas), and our awareness of how critically important it is to preserve and restore these ecosystems to avoid biodiversity loss and help to mitigate climate change, is why we have initiated the Blue Ireland campaign.

We are fully supportive of the development of offshore renewables when developments are appropriately sited and effectively managed under a democratic, ecosystem-based, marine planning regime.

In 2019, Ireland announced twin biodiversity and climate crises. In the intervening years, climate action has been put on a statutory footing, while commitment to biodiversity protection has been more or less ignored. In that context, we warmly welcome the setting up (November 2024) of the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) on Nature Restoration and the appointment of Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin as committee Chair.  There is much work to do. The 2025, European Environment Agency, State of the Environment report found that Ireland’s nature was in a very poor state – clearly highlighting our need to do better and to do it urgently.

Blue Ireland believe that the logical first step must be to ensure that the habitats and species we have are robustly protected; nature restoration proposals can then build on that base.