Caring For Connemara's Coastline, Ireland 1989

The Galway Coastal Watch sees an increase in plastic waste while a summer school on Inishbofin introduces people to the natural beauty of Connemara. Teacher, environmentalist and community activist activist Leo Hallissey is one of the founders of the Connemara Environmental Education and Cultural Centre in the village of Letterfrack, County Galway. One of the projects organised by the Centre is Faire, the Galway Costal Watch, which implements litter and pollution surveys along a 115 km stretch of coastline. Leo Hallissey and his wife Clare O’Toole meet with Máirtín Seoighe from Inis Bearachain (Inishbarra), a small island off Leitir Móir (Lettermore). Maritín Seoighe tells them the greatest source of litter he has come across on Galway’s shores are plastic containers, in particular bottles. He also sees too many plastic ties and rope and says plastic bags are a danger. Leo Hallissey would like to see Faire becoming a uniting force between the English and Irish speaking communities in Connemara and, That we will see a united Connemara that we will be developed as one integral unit that it deserves to be. Leo Hallissey hosts the Connemara Summer School on the island of Inishbofin where he introduces participants to a four day course during which they will Look at habitats and in that way we will bring all the disciplines together and they’ll all look at a habitat simultaneously. ‘I Live Here’ is a series of documentaries made in 1988-1989 about well known people of that time who had a strong attachment and commitment to their home places and how the people, personalities and physicality of their native landscapes influenced in their lives and work. This episode of ‘I Live Here’ was broadcast on 4 October 1989.