02 June 2025
Exciting speakers lined up for Extensive Grassland Biodiversity Event
Teagasc, in collaboration with The Heritage Council, is hosting an Extensive Grassland Biodiversity Event on Thursday, 12 June.
Taking place over two venues: the Country Arms Hotel, Birr Co. Offaly from 10am to 1pm; and Birr Castle Demesne, Birr, Co. Offaly from 2pm to 5pm, the event is free to attend but registration is a must.
Groups will visit the meadow in Birr Castle Demesne for grassland species identification, scoring and management with Teagasc Specialists & Advisors and Local Authority Biodiversity Officers. This outdoor event is free to attend, but booking is required. Please note that admission does not include entry to the interior of Birr Castle.
Keynote address
Featuring a number of high-profile speakers, John Feehan will deliver the keynote address at the Extensive Grassland Biodiversity Event.
John Feehan was for over 25 years a Senior Lecturer in UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science, and is well known for his award-winning work on the natural and cultural heritage of the Irish landscape.
His published work includes the definitive textbook on the natural, cultural and industrial heritage of Ireland’s peatlands, and his widely acclaimed Farming in Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment. John is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and last year was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by Trinity College Dublin.
Engagement & Status of Extensive Grasslands under ACRES
John Muldowney from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marie will deliver a presentation on ‘Engagement & Status of Extensive Grasslands under ACRES’. John Muldowney MAgrSc, is Head of the Agriculture and Environmental Structures Division in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture of University College Dublin in the area of Agricultural and Environmental Science.
He has been working on a range of Agri Environmental policies and schemes since 2001, ranging from development and delivery of schemes to support farmers as custodians of the landscape such as REPS and ACRES to representing Irish agricultural interests at EU and international level on policy development related to water, climate change and transboundary gases.
Types and Management of Extensive Grassland
Associate Professor, Helen Sheridan of the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin will deliver a paper titled ‘Types and Management of Extensive Grassland’.
Helen is originally from a drystock farm in Co. Longford. She completed a B.Ag.Sc. (Agri-Environmental Sciences) and a PhD (Agricultural Ecology) from the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin. Helen is Director of the Agri-Environmental Sciences Degree Programme, UCD and is a member of the Teagasc Authority.
Her teaching at under and post graduate level is in agricultural ecology and agri-environmental policy. Her research primarily focuses on enhancing the sustainability of ruminant production systems, with particular interest in the use of multispecies swards; the classification and management of farmland habitats and their associated biodiversity; and the design, implementation and monitoring of agri-environment schemes.
A champion of biodiversity
Éanna Ní Lamhna, Communications Officer of the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) will also feature. CRRU Ireland was set up in 2013 to address the concerns surrounding the use of rodenticides. These are resistant poisons formulated to get rid of mice and rats but they have been found further up the food chain in owls, kites and buzzards and in non-target species such as bank voles and shrews. Their incorrect permanent use is now leading to resistance in both mice and rats. Rodenticides must be used correctly and in ways that ensure minimum exposure of other wildlife.
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