Ireland's first marine national park has a name... but does it have much else going for it yet?

Anyone familiar with this area will instantly acknowledge its great natural beauty while its biodiversity is a prominent feature of the tourist economy of Dingle, the biggest town and likely the focal point for visitors to the new Park.

Nevertheless, the announcement, and subsequent developments since then, demonstrate everything that is wrong with the National Park concept in Ireland.

The announcement, when it came, was a great surprise to everyone. The pack of ministers and local politicians who travelled to Kerry for the big reveal were beside themselves with excitement but everyone else was left scratching their heads. What would this mean for nature, local people, and activities that are currently underway on lands and in the sea that are now a National Park?

Then-minister for nature Malcolm Noonan, when asked what practical difference being a National Park would make to the area, told RTÉ that “it’s the highest form of protection that the State can offer”. However, given that there is no legislation to back the designation, in reality it offers no particular protection whatever.

All of the areas, both terrestrial and marine, have been within Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas (for birds) for nearly 30 years — something that does provide legal protection — yet even this has made little practical difference where it matters. Noonan himself was keen to reassure farmers that the Park brought no new restrictions while his colleague, then-Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien told Agriland that “anything that took place yesterday will take place today and take place tomorrow as well”.

In July, I visited the Conor Pass with NPWS staff, who also took me on a boat trip around An Bhlascaoid Mhóir and the nearby islands.

What I saw and heard left me deeply concerned that not only will being a National Park offer nothing new, but that the existing ecological pressures on species and habitats (which are considerable) may even get worse.

First, the bit on land.

Following an online petition that gathered nearly 20,000 signatures, the State bought the expanse of bog at the Conor Pass... and this acquisition I was told would, in itself, give the NPWS powers to implement needed changes. I was told that no decisions have yet been taken on actions and the first step would be gathering data on the condition of the habitats and species.

Given that the lands have been an SAC for some time it is rather shocking that this data is not already to hand. Nevertheless, given what we do know, there are actions that could be taken without waiting for yet more reports. For instance, on a drive up the Owenmore valley, the most obvious feature is a large stand of conifer plantation. Clearly, this needs to be removed as a priority.

Between the plantation and the Owenmore River there is an expanse of blanket bog and we could see the fresh lines of bare peat that mark where turf is being extracted. The heavy excavator doing the extraction was also on display. Peat is gouged out under turbary rights which did not come with the land sale and so the State will need to enter further negotiations with the owners of these rights if this damage is to cease.

Elsewhere in the valley, the signs of chronic overgrazing are plain to see. The NPWS themselves have said that “the serious effects of overgrazing are widespread” on these hills.

With the land purchase the State now has full control over access to grazing animals but I was astonished to learn that since the transfer of ownership, a new contract has been agreed to allow a landowner to graze 200 sheep. How can this be justified?

Fishing licences on the Owenmore River are also being doled out.

At sea, the situation is substantially worse. The NPWS has no authority to manage fishing activity at sea — and mapping from the Marine Institute (MI) shows that there is barely any kind of fishing that is not going on in the areas that are now National Park. This includes bottom trawling as well as tangle netting for crawfish (also called spiny lobster) — a technique that is responsible for the lethal bycatch of multiple, critically endangered species such as angel sharks and a variety of skates.

A report from the MI found that 200 grey seals were drowned in these tangle nets over a four-year period and warned that this presented a “a significant risk to the Blasket Island seal colony”. Only the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have any authority to put restrictions on these activities, something they have shown no sign of doing.

Over a year on from the announcement, the Park has no dedicated manager, in fact no dedicated staff of any kind. The entirety of the Dingle peninsula, including the surrounding waters, has a single NPWS ranger (and presumably zero when this person is sick or on holiday).

An alternative approach would have been for the State to think through these multiple issues prior to any National Park announcement, something that might have instilled some confidence that it would actually deliver something for nature.

Instead, we have another vacuous label that only undermines the credibility of the National Park title.