First ‘Sustainable Bundoran’ event the first of many seeds of growth for the future

The first ‘Sustainable Bundoran’ event took place in the Atlantic Apartotel on February 11 2022, and it proved to be a very successful endeavour.

The event, which was hosted by Bundoran Tidy Towns in association with Green Education Ireland and sponsored by Clean Coasts Ireland, featured three excellent presenters, who shared with the audience, their tips and advice on easy and affordable ways to make their businesses, homes and schools more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

The presentations were chaired by John O’Connell, a director of the Institute of Study Abroad Ireland, which is one of four schools in Bundoran which host international students.

The other three schools are Donegal English Language School, IDLanguages, and Irish Gap Year, run by Gina Witherow, Arantxa Lopez Martinez, and Ryan Allen, respectively.

These four schools joined together to form ‘Green Education Ireland’, with the aim of offsetting the carbon impact the international visitors make with a series of local projects, and Green Education Ireland will work closely with Bundoran Tidy Towns and other community initiatives to deliver these initiatives.

Speakers Gina Witherow and Ryan Allen were joined by Marine Scientist Finn van der Aar, and each of these experienced environmentalists gave a most helpful presentation on how we can all take simple steps to make our community in Bundoran more sustainable. 

A central feature of the presentations was to identify areas in Bundoran suitable for tree-planting and rewilding, to be undertaken by visiting students.

There was an excellent Q&A at the end of the presentation, with notable contributions from attendees from Bundoran Golf Club, BMG Hardware, and Magh Ene College.

Terence McShea, head greenkeeper from Bundoran told us that their policy is not to use any chemicals in their maintenance of the course, and also that they have allocated sections of the facility for rewilding.

Tríona Warnock from local hardware store BMG stock a range of eco-friendly products for gardening, and also indigenous wildflower seeds for rewilding.

Students from Magh Ene college who attended, told the assembly of their projects to improve sustainability in school, including a fantastic project to remove plastic bottles by installing a water fountain. Councillor Michael McMahon, also in attendance, welcomed all of the above initiatives, and outlined council participation to develop and coordinate the many efforts being made to make Bundoran a more sustainable community. 

If you have further suggestions, information or ideas about adding to the Sustainable Bundoran project, please feel free to email info@isaireland.com

A video of each of the presentations is available at https://youtu.be/OvT1kzv5MRc 

Caption: Dr. Niamh Hamill (2nd from right) from the Institute of Study Abroad, one of the organisers of the Sustainable Bundoran workshop in the Apartotel, pictured with guest speakers l-r; Ryan Allen, Irish Gap Year, Marine Biologist, Finn Van der Aar and Gina Witherow from Bundoran Tidy Towns
Photo: Thomas Gallagher