Maynooth Campus named overall winner of the 2020 Pollinator Plan Awards

Maynooth Campus was the overall winner of the 2020 Pollinator Plan Award.

One-third of Ireland’s 98 wild bee species are threatened with extinction

Sports & Parks

8 April 2021

As part of the 2020 Green Flag Awards, additional Pollinator Plan Awards were issued across different park categories, Maynooth Campus being judged as the overall winner for its efforts.

The site not only reduced mowing and features wildflower meadows, and pollinator-friendly planting, but Maynooth Campus grounds staff also make a great effort to educate the public and to promote their efforts through its website and social media.

Award winners

The 2020 Pollinator Plan award winners were:

Overall Winner: Maynooth University/Saint Patrick’s College: Maynooth Campus

Country Park: OPW: Castletown Demesne

Town Park: Maynooth University/Saint Patrick’s College: Maynooth Campus

Walled Garden: OPW: The Phoenix Park – Victorian Walled Garden

Community Award: County Galway: Headford Community Orchard

Highly Commended/Special Award

Dublin City Council: Saint Anne’s Park
Fingal County Council: Millennium Park
Waterford City and County Council: Kilbarry Nature Park

Following the launch of the new All-Ireland Pollinator Plan for 2021-2025, Green Flag Award Parks and Gardens across Ireland are being asked to showcase the efforts and ideas being implemented on the ground to support the new pollinator plan.

Green Flag Award Scheme applicants within the Republic of Ireland have been invited to submit an additional Pollinator Plan Award application. With the launch of the new All-Ireland Pollinator Plan for 2021-2025, and a further increase in the number of Green Flag Award applicant sites in 2021, it is to be expected that we will also see more interest in the Pollinator Plan Award Competition this year.

The pollinator award is jointly run by An Taisce and the National Biodiversity Data Centre to support the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, and is sponsored by Young’s Nurseries.

Ireland is currently the only country in the world operating the Pollinator Plan Award as part of its Green Flag Award Scheme operations. The award has been a feature of the Green Flag Award Scheme in Ireland since 2017 when it was first introduced to encourage engagement with the first All-Ireland Pollinator Plan by local authority parks and gardens.

Pollinator friendly

Speaking at the recent online National Network Meeting for Green Flag Award Scheme participants in Ireland, the Pollinator Plan Project Officer, Juanita Browne, stated that “from the 48 pollinator plans delivered by 23 different parks to date, it is clear that these sites are now pollinator friendly parks. They are also now biodiversity friendly sites as well because what we do to support bees and other pollinating insects will also protect and encourage all biodiversity.”

The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan itself was designed to helps bees, other pollinating insects, and our wider biodiversity by working with nature to provide space for pollinators within our parks, gardens, and green spaces.

When the initial All-Ireland Pollinator Plan was launched in September 2015, Ireland became one of the first countries in Europe to address pollinator declines. The plan quickly drew huge support from not only local authorities, and environmental organisations such as An Taisce, but also from the general public. Many gardeners and nature enthusiasts saw the plan as a way to articulate their own concerns for our natural environment, within a framework for local improvements, and to counter biodiversity loss. As such, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan has been a rare environmental success story for Ireland.

As one-third of our 98 wild bee species are threatened with extinction from the island of Ireland, the new All-Ireland Pollinator Plan’s aim to reverse these declines will also assist with ensuring the sustainability of our food, avoid additional economic impacts on agriculture, as well as protecting the health of the environment.

To participate in the Green Flag Award Scheme, or for more information e-mail rmoss@eeu.antaisce.org or phone: 087 4623302.