Hook Head Lighthouse is to celebrate Ireland’s ‘Fire Goddess,’ reports Tom MacSweeney, by staging the first Imbolc Festival to be celebrated at the 800-year-old lighthouse. Imbolc is a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring, it is also the…

#Lecture - The Friends of Glenua first 2018 lecture entilted ‘Whales & Dolphins in Ireland’ Current Knowledge & New Discoveries is to be presented by Dr. Simon Berrow, next Thursday 11 January.  As usual the lecture programme is held in the Poolbeg Yacht &…

#StormEleanor - Just days after Storm Dylan swept across the north of Ireland, winter storm number five is set to move in off the Atlantic later this afternoon (Tuesday 2 January). Met Éireann has issued a Status Orange weather warning…

#Irish/GlobalWaste - The global waste industry is about to be thrown into turmoil as China is set to implement its threat to shut its door on almost all categories of plastic and poor quality cardboard and paper. It is the…

#MarineScience - Delivered by ten centres around Ireland is The Explorers Education Programme, that met up to 15,000 primary school students, worked with over 500 school teachers and trained in excess of 100 teachers and student teachers on the east…

#Weather - Barely a month after Storm Caroline, a Status Orange gale warning is in effect on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea as Storm Dylan is forecast to sweep over the country this evening (Saturday 30…

#MarineScience - Celebrating 20 years of service in July was the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Voyager, the second decade reached marked a significant milestone for Ireland's first purpose built research vessel. The RV Celtic Voyager was built in the Netherlands…

#StarWars - Tourism chiefs’ “cultural rebranding” of Skellig Michael on the back of its appearance in the new Star Wars film threatens to push visitor numbers to “unsustainable levels”, says An Taisce. According to The Irish Times, Ireland’s national trust…

#IMERC - Documents seen by the Irish Examiner show that the Naval Service was against the shutting of the Irish Marine and Energy Research Cluster (IMERC) earlier this year. A joint marine research initiative of CIT’s National Maritime College of…

#MarineWildlife - Four marine wildlife organisations will share in €2.56 million in funding for animal welfare throughout the State, as announced yesterday by Marine Minister Michael Creed. Seal Rescue Ireland in Courtown, Co Wexford receives €12,000 for its efforts in…

#Doonbeg - Clare County Council has granted permission for coastal erosion works adjacent to the Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, as RTÉ News reports. Planners at the council approved a revised proposal from the golf resort for works comprising…

#CoastalNotes - A new harbour patrol for the South Coast? That’s what Cork County Council is proposing in new measures to curb what’s being seen as a “free for all” along the county's  lengthy coastline. According to the Irish Examiner,…

#WW1ceremony - The relatives of two men who died when two merchant ships were torpedoed by a German submarine in December 1917 have spoken of their pride at seeing their family members remembered at a ceremony in Waterford. As The…

#MarineScience - The Marine Institute awarded €108,000 in grant-aid funding to 94 recipients in 2017 under its Networking & Travel Awards. This scheme, funded under the Marine Research Programme with the support of the Government, makes awards to provide assistance…

#CoastalNotes - Plastic continues to litter Ireland’s coastline, with over 8,800 drinks bottles recorded around the island’s shores in the 2017 Coastwatch survey. Preliminary results from the volunteer survey conducted in September and October show that more than four-fifths of…

The steps towards delivering a planning system for the seas around Ireland has been set–out by Government this week.  Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy and Minister Damien English published the 'roadmap' on Wednesday. 'Towards a Marine Spatial…