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Briain Kelly, 4 Feb
Galway’s status as home to some of Ireland’s cleanest and unspoilt
waterbodies is the subject of a series of new educational booklets
launched this week.
John Sharpson, an Irish language teacher and presenter of RTE’s Home
School Hub, was the special guest at Scoil na bhForbacha where ‘Connemara
Blue Dots: A Precious Resource’ was officially unveiled as part of World
Wetlands Day 2024.
Blue Dot waters are regarded as Ireland’s best quality and most natural
water bodies considering their high ecological quality and greater
diversity of species that are sensitive to pollution.
The bilingual publications illustrate how dozens of Blue Dot Waters
throughout West Galway provide top water quality conditions for the
country’s most iconic and threatened animal and plant species.
This includes the wild Atlantic salmon, brown trout, artic charr,
freshwater pearl mussel and slender naiad, and the areas where they live
and thrive.
Cathaoirleach Liam Carroll discusses Connemara high status waters (Blue
Dots) with students from Rang 6 at Scoil na bhForbacha, Co. Galway. Pic by
Seán Lydon.
Councillor Liam Carroll, Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council said, “It
is important to acknowledge the good work being carried out by community
groups around the county in working to improve and preserve waterbodies
and wetlands.”
“The theme for World Wetlands Day 2024 relates to human wellbeing being
inextricably linked to the health of the world’s wetlands. All of us must
value and steward our wetlands. Every effort to protect and restore them
counts.”
Funded through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund by the National Parks &
Wildlife Service, the booklets are written and produced by Streamscapes as
part of an educational initiative of Galway County Council and the Local
Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO).
Their publication follows on from a series of workshops which were
delivered to ten Connemara primary schools last autumn and are an action
from the current Galway County Heritage & Biodiversity Plan and under the
National Blue Dot Catchments Programme coordinated by LAWPRO.
Rosina Joyce, Biodiversity Officer with Galway County Council commented,
“Wetlands are a key part of our core identity here in County Galway. Our
bogs, rivers, lakes and coastlines define who we are as a people.”
“These booklets inform the readers of the biodiversity treasures found
within our Blue Dot ecosystems. It is only by being aware of what we have,
that we can begin to take steps to protect it.”