'There's no fish in the rivers' - Huge effort in Laois to restore biodiversity

Biodiversity Officer with Laois County Council, Lisa Doyle, spoke with the Leinster Express about the new biodiversity plan

Published 26th Jul 2026, 17:35 BST Bat enthusiasts in Laois gathered for the Stradbally Bat Walk as part of Biodiversity Week 2026. Photo: Lisa Doyle. Biodiversity Officer with Laois County Council, Lisa Doyle, spoke with the Leinster Express about the new biodiversity plan Sign up to our Laois Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Laois Live within your account.

“Everybody's responsible for nature because we're all living in it, we all eat it, we drink it, and we breathe in the air,” is what Laois County Council ’s Biodiversity Officer, Lisa Doyle, had to say about Laois ’ new Biodiversity Action Plan.

A new Biodiversity Action Plan for Laois has been developed by Laois County Council in collaboration with the Heritage Council. The five year plan sets out the Council’s commitment to protecting and enhancing biodiversity across the county between 2026 and 2031.

The plan outlines a series of 58 targeted actions to strengthen biodiversity conservation, while also promoting greater awareness, participation, and stewardship among local communities.

The county plan explains: “Biodiversity in healthy ecosystems supports and underpins the viability of life on Earth. Healthy ecosystems support food production, clean water, clean air, recreational spaces, resulting in reduced flooding, optimising soil and water quality, sustainable agriculture, and green tourism. Healthy ecosystems make the county resilient to climate change.”

Under the fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan, it is a requirement for all government departments and local authorities to have Biodiversity Action Plans in place by the end of 2026.

This action plan provides a strategic framework for protecting, enhancing, and restoring biodiversity. It brings together stakeholders, sets priorities for stakeholders and enables Laois to meet national and EU conservation targets while supporting a sustainable and healthy environment for future generations.

The preparation of the plan was informed by public consultation, during which members of the public were invited to share their views on which aspects of biodiversity should be protected, celebrated, and prioritised, as well as the issues that matter most to them.

The actions in the plan will be funded through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund. This funding is capped at €96,700 a year for each local authority.

Laois locals gathered to build barn owl boxes during Biodiversity Week 2026. | Photo: Lisa Doyle. This funding, which is operated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, amounts to 85% of the total money spent on implementing the biodiversity actions, while Laois County Council provides 15%.

Speaking to the Leinster Express, Laois County Council’s Biodiversity Officer, Lisa Doyle, explained that some projects have already been completed in the county ahead of the publication of the plan.

For example, the county’s first ever Bat Conservation Group was set up at the beginning of the year which has brought nature enthusiasts in the community together to support the protection and understanding of local bat species.

Last year, the Laois Barn Owl Project was implemented to support the conservation of the barn owl, a red-listed species of conservation concern in Ireland due to significant population decline caused by habitat loss, rodenticide poisoning, road mortality, and the loss of nesting sites.

The project, funded by the NPWS and Laois County Council, has installed over 150 nest boxes across County Laois in collaboration with landowners, farmers, schools, and community groups .

In 2024, the Laois Education Support Centre in Portlaoise set up a Biodiversity Demonstration Garden which is designed to be a living classroom to promote environmental education, biodiversity awareness and hands-on learning for schools and the local community. This was funded through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund, with project support provided by the Laois Heritage Officer and the Climate Action section of Laois County Council.

Welcoming the new plan for Laois, Ms Doyle emphasised that this plan is “for future generations as well.”

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“I think it's quite important to say it's only a five-year plan and it's a stepping stone to more stepping stones. Everybody's responsible for nature because we're all living in it, we all eat it, we drink it, and we breathe in the air.”

The Biodiversity Officer urged that biodiversity impacts everyone and some projects which may appear quite small-scale can actually have a huge knock-on impact elsewhere.

“If you can improve a river's quality in the riparian zone along a river, that has benefits up and down the river and into the countryside where it touches.

“Even for the pollination of our crops, the fruit trees don't just grow apples, they have to be pollinated, and for that you need insects, and for insects you need to have no pesticides. So there's real knock-on effects for our food quality as well.

“When you go down a certain route and you artificially introduce something like pesticides, they will kill everything that might eat your crops. But, that pesticide residue stays in the soil and it stays in our food and we consume it. So that's not healthy. And then the soil is intensive, so you lose the soil biodiversity.”

Central to publishing the plan and implementing its actions, is community engagement. A Biodiversity Working Group was formed in August 2025. The Biodiversity Working Group is a non-statutory advisory group established by Laois County Council to provide observations and advice on the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Public meetings were held across Laois at the end of last year to gain a greater insight from the local community. There were also consultations with local groups such as Foróige, Comhairle na nÓg and the Age Friendly Programme.

The outcomes of the public consultation indicated a consistent need for better management of hedgerow maintenance in the landscape through awareness, training and enforcement, increased awareness of nature and appropriate river management, increased wildflower meadow management, concern of remnants of ancient woodland and hedgerows, as well as a lack of consistent biodiversity education in schools.

Lisa Doyle, Laois County Council Biodiversity Officer, speaking at Portlaoise Library for the first meeting of the Laois Bat Conservation Group. | Photo: Alf Harvey. Key concerns raised during the consultations included the extensive use of pesticides and herbicides used on food and the direct and indirect effects on the landscape, lack of bird and bat roosting and nesting locations, the widespread effects of invasive species on sensitive habitats and biodiversity corridors.

Ms Doyle noted that hedgerow management was one the most commonly raised issues during these meetings with the public and so this will be tackled within the plan.

Providing hedgerow management training for Laois County Council staff, community groups, and landowners to improve on-the-ground biodiversity outcomes is one of the 58 actions listed in the plan. Workshops will be held next year for this.

“I'm also doing a hedgerow training course because in the public consultation period, a lot of people were unhappy with the way the hedgerows are managed,” she said.

“They're kind of boxed hedgerows and they don't offer the maximum benefit when they're cut like that for wildlife and even for cattle, especially in this heat. You see a lot of cattle now will migrate towards the shaded areas, which actually would be a tall tree. So my remit would be to train our internal staff, the contractors we bring in and our community groups on the best practices on cutting a hedgerow for the maximum benefit for all.”

Effectively managing hedgerows is hugely important for biodiversity, as Ms Doyle explains they block a lot of diseases because they act as physical barriers for diseases being carried by the wind and insects.

Other actions listed in the plan include providing public training on meadow management, cut-and-lift systems, pollinator-friendly verges and practical demonstrations along the N77 corridor.

The Council also plans to advise schools on establishing outdoor learning spaces, mini-orchards and biodiversity gardens which will expand on the Portlaoise Demonstration Garden model.

Laois Libraries also aim to support the rollout of citizen science kits for public use and will work closely with the Biodiversity section of Laois County Council to raise awareness and educate the community on biodiversity with interactive events.

Working with the community is crucial to delivering the aims of the biodiversity plan, especially with Tidy Towns groups. Ms Doyle said she’s eager to work with people who are physically managing projects and the environment.

“I'd also love to have some kind of collaboration with some of the landowners in Laois who might have land on a main road. We would use the hedgerows where everybody can see driving by and say this is an example of good hedgerow management and promote it that way rather than doing it behind closed doors.”

Along with the physical benefits of promoting a healthy biodiversity culture, Ms Doyle highlighted the positive impacts it can have on mental health.

“The mental health benefits of being out in nature, there's no comparison. There's a hospital in London that has created a garden out on the roof because they found people got better when they were looking at trees. So, we are in nature. We're just a bit removed from it, unfortunately, and this is just an attempt to see what we have in Laois and look for ways to direct the funding to maximize the benefits.”

“One of my objectives is to improve the connection between people and nature. So that's working with schools and hosting Biodiversity Week and Heritage Week and identifying the community groups and opportunities where we can just bring the kids out into nature and educate them.”

Reflecting over her career, the Laois County Council Biodiversity Officer remarked that there is definitely more of an interest in issues such as biodiversity now more than ever.

She noted that one thing which stood out from the public consultations were concerns raised from people about the differences in the local environment now in comparison to during their childhood.

“In my public consultation, I asked people of a certain age what they remembered from their childhood. And they said, ‘We'd just go to the river and pull out fish. You know, they were so plentiful. Now there's no fish in the rivers.’

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“It's definitely changing and people are more aware. There's a real appetite for people to learn about biodiversity because it can be misconstrued with landscaping or gardening, and it's not.”

Ms Doyle added: “I think some people are increasingly worried and Laois is becoming quite a stronghold with regard to groups doing biodiversity actions. You know, we've got the Abbeyleix Bog Walk which sees Trojan efforts every week with people going out and managing the boardwalk and invasive species.”

The Biodiversity Action Plan points out the Abbeyleix Bog Walk as one of Ireland’s leading examples of community-based peatland restoration.

The roughly 500 acre site was once threatened by commercial peat extraction but is now a flagship project which “demonstrates how local action, scientific guidance, and long-term stewardship can deliver major biodiversity, climate, and community benefits.”

Ms Doyle also noted great work being done by the Mountmellick Women’s Shed who are actively removing invasive species and planting trees as well as the Clonduff community who have a Blue Dot river which is a river with exceptional water quality.

The Biodiversity Officer has encouraged anyone who is interested in learning more about biodiversity to get in touch with her and explore the new groups that are up and running in the county such as the Bat Conservation Group which has 35 members so far.

If you are interested in discovering more about biodiversity in Laois, you can contact Lisa Doyle by email at [email protected] .

The Draft Laois Biodiversity Action Plan can be viewed online, in Áras an Chontae and in all libraries in Laois. Submissions can be made through the Council's consultation portal.

The consultation is now open and will remain open until Friday, August 21 at 4pm.