Inch Island & The Grianán Estate: Donegal - 1982

Concerns at the threat to plants and wildlife from a proposal to drain Inch Lake in Donegal.
A most spectacular example of lowland drainage can be found at Grianán Estate, Ireland’s largest single lowland farm. At the beginning of the last century most of this area was under water. Drainage of the area began over a hundred years ago. In the 1960s, expertise from the Netherlands added the vital element to the drainage process.
In 1979, the estate was bought for a reported £4 million by a consortium. The new owners now plan to reclaim 300 acres of the 900 acres of the submerged Inch Lake.
The Grianán Estate is bordered by Inch Island, an area of seven square miles and home to around 400 people. Strictly speaking Inch is not an island as it is connected to the mainland by a main road. However, this is the source of opposition to the drainage plan. A committee has been formed by some of the islanders with the support of ecologist Ray Sheppard in an effort to save the lake. Ray Sheppard an active conservationist in Donegal says that many of the species of birds living in and around the lake have national importance. Any development of the lake would impact on their habitat and therefore their survival. He believes that many of the birds would be displaced by drainage activity. Ray Sheppard also says that the lake also has botanic and vegetation significance.
There are a number of quite scarce plants which are here in large numbers.
Owners of Grianán Estate deny that their drainage plans will endanger plants and wildlife on the lake and insist that it was their restriction on shooting in the area that prevented the extinction of many species.
Chairman of the Inch Action Committee Charlie Morrison says that while he understands the motives of the owners it is not in the public interest to go ahead with the drainage plans. The committee believes that the lake in its present state is priceless.
It would certainly not be in the public interest to do this drainage scheme.
News report broadcast on 4 February 1982

Видео Inch Island & The Grianán Estate: Donegal - 1982 канала Lee McDaid - Donegal