Insight SFI Research Centre’s Niall Ó Brolcháin joined the Eco Showboat on Saturday 27 May at Mountshannon Co. Claire, to discuss the huge potential in restoring Irish bogs.

As part of the EU Interreg Care Peat project Niall led a workshop to discuss how and why we should restore our bogs while involving local communities. Ireland has a unique opportunity to dramatically reduce carbon emissions by rewetting our peatlands.

Niall, who studies peatland restoration & greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, discussed the ecological damage that has been done by draining and cutting Irish bogs and looked at how we can rewet damaged peatlands.

This is the isn’t the first time that Niall has joined the Eco Showboat. In 2022 he joined the Eco Showboat’s Umbrella Academy to discuss peatland policy and the opportunities that peatland restoration offers to local communities.

The Eco Showboat is an art project aimed at raising awareness of climate change, supported by the Arts Council, SFI Discover, Creative Ireland, Lawpro and Waterways Ireland. Artists Anne Cleary & Denis Connolly are navigating Ireland’s inland waterways meeting local artists, scientists and communities to spark climate action.

The Eco Showboat ‘Journey to the East’ is a five month arts expedition, from Askeaton to Dublin and including the Barrow and Grand Canal, aboard the Mayfly, flagship of the Eco Showboat project. Last year the Mayfly travelled from Limerick to Enniskillen on the Shannon and Erne, the first time such a voyage has been undertaken on a solar-powered vessel.