A strange thing has happened in Ireland since the beginning of the year. People - even politicians outside the Green Party - are talking about subjects like peak oil, renewable energy, climate change and biofuels with something approaching easy familiarity. These things are, quite suddenly, part of the landscape even for people who scoffed at such ideas only a year ago. It is interesting how quickly peoples' views can change, how quickly things become normal and accepted. What lies behind these recent changes, though, are decades of 'tree-hugging hippies' and 'whacky left' activists arguing, cajoling, begging, declaiming, pleading…

There are some small changes in the way Ireland's heritage is viewed also. Small but not insignificant. We have done an enormous amount of damage to our heritage over the last hundred years or so - ripping out hedgerows, levelling ringforts, carpeting our hillsides with tree plantations like something from Stalin's USSR, and it continues - we are gleefully building a motorway past one of Ireland's most renowned mythical, archaeological and historical sites: Tara. Despite this, we see people struggle on to achieve what can at times seem unattainable goals. Most people in Ireland will be familiar with Vincent Salafia and his battles to protect the archaeology of Carrickmines Castle and more recently the Tara-Skryne Valley. Chasing big issues through the court system is one way to try and bring about change, but there are other ways. This issue, our sponsored link is to the website of the Woodland League (WLL) who have taken a somewhat different approach to achieving their goals.

Though they have worked in formal environments such as the Forestry Stewardship Council certification process, what is perhaps more interesting, and hopeful, is their model for co-operation between many small, local groups. The analogy WLL use - the staves of a barrel made stronger by the iron hoops that bind the barrel together - only tells part of the story. Their purpose is to provide a communications network, give support and advice, and promote the activities of groups who otherwise would almost certainly never be heard of outside their locality. Needless to say, it is early days and WLL have much to learn and many mistakes to make, but perhaps they are on the right track here.

While WLL focus their activity on issues relating to Ireland's natural heritage, and especially native woodland development and restoration, it may be that Ireland's human heritage is more amenable to such an approach. The Archaeology in the Classroom programme, implemented by INTO in Ireland's primary schools has made great strides in giving our younger citizens a chance to see, talk about, think about and - horrors - even touch real artefacts from our past. Further, while many people have a fairly laissez-faire attitude towards issues such as Tara-Skryne (how often the words "what's the point… there's nothing we can do anyway" have been spoken), underlying this most Irish people seem to have a little-expressed love and pride in this island's past. We even seem to have, as the Woodquay and Woodstown experiences indicate, quite a positive attitude towards supposed 'villains' like the Vikings.

We might well ask why it is that Ireland does not have a strong network of trusts, societies, clubs and other organisations dedicated to accessing, protecting and studying human heritage such as in Britain, for example. Certainly, the far larger population of Britain must have an impact here, but it cannot be the whole story. Is it just that nobody has bothered to try and organise activity in Ireland other than the quiet work of local history and archaeology societies and fire-fighting activities such as the Tara campaign? It is a curiosity of Irish society that little else seems to be going on, though that may soon change.

The change is already happening on one front thanks to the Woodland League and similar moves are afoot in relation to Ireland's human heritage. In fact, there is no real reason why the 'nature' and 'human' groups should stand apart from each other. There is no reason why a modular network of groups cannot deal with both human and natural at once. Both have acted together to shape the landscape we live in, whether it be rural or urban. It is nigh on impossible to properly address issues relating to the natural environment without considering how human activity has impacted on it, and vice versa.

We expect to have some interesting news along these lines in our August issue, but for the present consider this:

Imagine small, local heritage activity groups across Ireland based on local towns or parishes. Imagine such groups using the Archaeology in the Classroom and other heritage initiatives as a basis to build local involvement in local heritage. Imagine such groups co-operating on a county and provincial basis, sharing resources and ideas. Imagine a nationwide network promoting and publicising their achievements on a national level and providing local groups with expert assistance and advice.

Think about it. Imagine this in your parish, town or suburb. Imagine being involved. Could you turn imagination into reality? Would you like to talk about yourself using these words: 'quality of life', 'pride', 'achievement', 'fulfillment', 'satisfaction', 'success'…?

Go on, think about it. There's nothing in TV anyway. See you back here in August. Maybe we can work some magic.

Editorial Team

Editor - Stiof MacAmhalghaidh
Stiofán MacAmhalghaidh is currently lecturing part-time in archaeology and history at Waterford Institute of Technology. He founded the IRQUAS Irish Studies Online Project in 2000, and is Editor of both Insight and Celtic Well online journals. Stiof holds a degree in English & History from TCD

Content Editor - Shae Clancy

Shae is a docent/researcher at the Hunt Museum in Limerick and manager of an
ecotoxicological testing laboratory in Shannon.

Technical Editor - John Alexander
John read Greats at Oxford and now teaches at Headfort near Kells, Co. Meath. He is webmaster of several Irish websites

Associate Editor - Raimund Karl
Dr Raimund Karl FSA Scot MIFA

Ray studied Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Vienna. He is Lecturer in Heritage and Archaeology at the Department of History and Welsh History, University of Wales, Bangor.

Events Editor - Charles O'Toole

Charles has been teaching for a number of years in Kells and has undertaken historical research for the Rosminian Order at their house in Italy.

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