The beautiful Regional Park located in Ballincollig is the lungs of Cork City. Originally developed as a Gun Powder Mills in the 18th century. The site fell into disuse in the early 1900s and was acquired by Cork County Council in the 70’s and transferred to Cork City Council with the boundary change and thus, began the transformation into the wonderful amenity we have today.

I am passionate about this Park. I walk there daily and I have benefitted greatly from its peace and tranquillity over the years. I feel a great sense of responsibility for its welfare.

For many years this delicate ecosystem of trees and wetland was plagued by a dark secret. There was a cloudy foul smelling discharge flowing into the Canal System. This was polluting a large section of the Canal System, destroying wildlife habitat and the wildlife itself. It became an attraction for vermin which flourished as a result. Many locals brought this to the Councils’ attention but were dismissed. I took it up and after several years of dogged persistence on my part, the Council eventually recognised the problem and set about resolving it. They identified the source of the effluent, redirected it into the public sewer system and dealt with the vermin.

The return of clear water and the restoration of the ecosystem along this Canal has been extremely gratifying and I am very grateful to Cork City Council for seeing this through. As we all, know Ireland’s pristine waterways are coming under increasing pressure and are in decline and it gives me great satisfaction to have given something back to Park that has given me so much refreshment over the years. I think this is where I’m at with nature restoration. I can’t solve the global crisis but I can solve the issues that I see around me. I can’t save wildlife habitats globally but I can save those in my neighbourhood.