We spoke in detail last month about the new windows and doors grant, recently launched under the Individual Energy Upgrade Grant. First of all, I need to make a correction to one of the grant rules, which has been clarified by SEAI in the meantime. My understanding was that, in order to be eligible for the window or door grant, all your windows or doors in the house would have to meet the minimum SEAI specification (a U-value of 1.4 W/m2K or lower). This was always the rule for window and door grants under the One Stop Shop Scheme and would normally mean replacing all the windows or doors. I have since been informed by SEAI that they will offer the grants towards a partial window or door replacement, but that it is a one time grant, you can only make the claim once. Obviously you still need to meet the minimum insulation standards we discussed last month, which may be harder to do if only changing a few windows. 

This month we are continuing on the glazing subject, discussing sunrooms. Sunrooms or conservatories are great spaces for capturing heat when the sun comes out and making the most of a site with a good view. These glass-walled retreats are a common architectural feature on both old and new houses across West Cork. However, as we move toward higher insulation standards for retrofits and new builds, the humble sunroom is coming under the microscope. While they feel warm on a sunny April afternoon, they can often be the ‘weakest link’ in a home’s thermal envelope. There are also complications regarding how they are treated in BER assessments.

Firstly, let’s look at efficiency. I’m sure we have all experienced fully glazed sunrooms that get roasting hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. This is simple physics: glazing allows for solar gain. While this ‘free’ heat can be useful, it can quickly lead to overheating, and the heat loss during nights and winter usually outweighs the gains. In terms of heat loss, a wall built to modern standards will be almost 4.5 times better at retaining heat compared to the best triple-glazed window. Finally, the ‘form factor’ of these spaces is often inefficient. They are usually three-sided structures attached to the main house, often with vaulted ceilings. This creates a high proportion of heat-loss area; glazing, walls, floor, and roof, in comparison to the useable floor area.

If you are designing a sunroom from scratch, my advice is to reduce the proportion of glazing. Aim for a solid roof with a few rooflights and no more than 30 per cent glazing on the walls. This provides ample solar gain while minimising heat loss. If you are clever with the design, this shouldn’t restrict how the space captures views or connects to the surroundings. To be fair, most sunrooms on new-build homes already follow these principles; in fact, it would be nearly impossible to meet current building regulations with a fully glazed space that is thermally part of the house.

This leads to my second point: existing sunrooms that are more or less fully glazed. I’m currently sitting in one while writing this article. It’s a slightly overcast April day; about 16 degrees Celsius outside and 28 degrees inside with the door open! We don’t have any heating in this space, and the door into the living room is an external-grade door. We don’t use the room much in the winter; it’s great in spring and autumn, if we have sunshine, but as soon as it gets dark, it’s very cold. In the height of summer, it needs all the doors open to stay cool. Despite this, it is still a useful space, and I’m glad we spent the time and money repairing it when we moved in rather than demolishing it. My advice if you have this type of sunroom is to treat it as a seasonal space: don’t try to heat it, and ensure it is thermally separated from the rest of the house when temperatures drop. You could also consider closing in part of the roof and walls with insulated panels; I have seen some very effective examples of this.

How sunrooms are treated in your BER (Building Energy Rating) roughly follows the principles above:

Separated: If it is thermally separated from the rest of the house (e.g., by an external-grade door), is mainly glazed, and has no fixed heating, it is not counted as part of the house’s internal floor area.

Included: If these criteria aren’t met, for example, if you have a radiator in there, the room is counted as part of the heated envelope. This generally leads to a poorer BER rating because of the high heat loss through the glass.

This classification becomes important when looking at the SEAI window, door and heat pump grants, which all require a certain level of insulation of the home. If your sunroom is classified as part of the house, it is likely to negatively impact your Heat Loss Indicator (HLI). This is a critical metric, as the heat Pump Grant requires an HLI of 2.3 or lower. It is  also one of the routes to grant compliance for windows and doors.

Sunrooms are not necessarily a bad thing; they can be very useful spaces. It is simply important to be aware of their impact on your energy use, BER, and grant eligibility.

Heads up: For those planning a BER soon, from May 24, 2026, the BER scale is being simplified from 15 categories (A1, B2, and so on) to a basic A to G scale. This is part of wider changes to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) at a European level. We will dive into this in more detail next month.

As always, if you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out: ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

We have all seen the price of petrol and diesel soar over the past month, with blockades at pumps, slow moving haulier convoys and tractor protests. Some garages have limited fuel supplies per vehicle and some pumps have run out of fuel. The cost of home heating is reported to have increased by up to 20 per cent since the start of the Iran war.

Some countries have been much less affected by global threats to the supplies of energy. Iceland, for example, runs entirely on renewable energy. Approximately 75.5 per cent of the country’s electricity comes from hydropower, which is their primary source of electricity, the other 24.5 per cent coming from geothermal energy. As early as 2022, 60 per cent of vehicles in Iceland ran on electricity, and electricity costs remain stable and low.

Paraguay produces all of its electricity from hydropower. Nepal uses hydropower for 98.6 per cent of its total electrical output, solar energy producing the remaining 1.4 per cent. Nepal is about 2.11 times the size of Ireland in area and has a population of 29.6 million people, compared to Ireland‘s 5.3 million people.

Ethiopia, which is about 16 times bigger than Ireland, with a population of 135 million, produces 96 per cent of its electricity from hydropower, with wind energy making up the remaining four per cent.

Certainly, energy independence is not only a possibility but can be demonstrated in countries across the globe to be a reality. 

Electricity prices in Ireland are among the highest in Europe, with further increases of four to nine per cent warned for summer 2026. This is due to the reliance on imports of gas and oil to supply electricity and the global pressures on supplies of those commodities. 

Ireland’s government has however committed to ensuring energy is affordable, sustainable, and secure and that Ireland will move from an oil and gas-based energy system to an electricity-led system, maximising renewable energy and being linked into Europe’s energy systems.

EirGrid, a Private Limited Company owned by the Irish Government is responsible for planning, managing and developing Ireland’s high-voltage electricity grid. This high-voltage grid is connected to the low voltage distribution system managed by ESB Networks who are also government-owned and who supply power directly to homes and business around the country. 

Despite objections from rural Irish residents, the transition to sustainable energy is focused almost entirely on large wind farms feeding into the already existing centralised electricity grid. Research shows however that decentralised energy systems are the most efficient solution available to enable low-carbon energy transitions. 

Decentralised energy systems use several different technologies such as small-scale wind turbines, geothermal, hydropower and solar, giving flexibility to meet energy demand from industries, households, and state enterprises such as hospitals, universities and public buildings. 

Almost all countries achieving close to 100 per cent renewable energy supply do so by using digitalised, smart, decentralised supply systems that operate at building scale or block scale.

Decentralisation creates hundreds or thousands of tiny, localised electricity-generating systems attached to homes, communities or businesses. Taking advantage of localised environmental conditions to share power, they provide electricity locally feeding excess back into the power grid for distribution elsewhere.

To do this however would require that Ireland rethink the policy that favours a centralised system which suffers a five per cent loss of power, as that power is transported long distances. Decentralisation would need a greater mix of energy production technologies to be used and businesses that are extremely heavy on energy, such as data centres, would have to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. 

Currently data centres use about 23 per cent of Ireland’s total energy consumption. This is expected to rise to 35 per cent by 2030; however they also provide considerable financial support to Ireland’s green energy sector, by underpinning the development of new renewable generation that will help to achieve the target of 70 per cent electricity from renewables by 2030. 

The Irish Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) created a policy aligning data centre growth with decarbonisation. It requires planning applications to demonstrate on-site or nearby renewable energy generation. New data centres connecting to the electricity network are required to provide electricity generation and/or storage capacity either onsite or in local proximity. This electricity generation and storage must match the requested data centre maximum demand capacity and will be required to participate in the wholesale electricity market thus supporting the overall system.

An article on science direct.com ‘Ten questions concerning decentralised energy systems governance’ states that “If we are to succeed with achieving the ambitious low-carbon energy transition targets embraced by many nation-states, cities and corporations, electrification and development of more decentralised energy systems will have to play a large role, and their governance is bound to become a matter of increased attention and interest. A decentralised energy system implies fundamental changes in electricity sector governance towards devolution of control, planning, and operation of electricity system functions (production, sales, distribution, and grid balancing) from a few central actors to include also a great many small-scale actors at more localised levels Typically, decentralised energy systems involve shorter-distance supply from small generation units owned by active consumers (individually or as energy communities that may share a microgrid, constitute a positive energy district (PED) or positive energy neighbourhood (PEN), and may also assist in solving local grid operation challenges by offering flexibility in supply and demand. A prerequisite for detecting and tackling local grid congestion challenges and flexibilities in consumption and production towards solutions is the provision of fine-grained information based on digitalisation of the grid through grid company installation of smart meters and sensors.”

Ireland has doubled wind energy capacity over the past 10 years and solar is now Ireland’s third largest source of indigenous electricity generation. It just squeezes in to the list of top ten countries leading the way with wind and solar penetration. 

If, like the Danish government, Ireland required all new wind projects to be between 20 and 50 per cent community-owned, citizens, especially those in rural areas, would immediately benefit financially from the shift to renewables. If this shift also focused on decentralised systems, then community acceptance could facilitate a rapid transition to energy independence and security pushing towards renewable energy targets for 2030 and minimising the threat that comes from geopolitical events triggered by other countries. The Irish government has after all, committed to ensuring energy is affordable, sustainable, and secure.

West Cork-based farms, enterprises, and parks featuring as part of the tour include: Drimoleague’s Glenilen Farm; Gougane Barra Forest Park located in the Shehy Mountains; Macroom Buffalo Farm; Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM)’s ARC (Aquaculture Remote Classroom) mobile unit; West Cork’s Gurteen Share Farm; and Clonakility Agricultural College, Clonakilty.

Led by Nuffield Ireland, as part of the global Nuffield International network, encompassing over 1,700 scholars from sixteen countries, this unique event will bring together a global cohort of Nuffield leaders alongside a substantial gathering of senior figures from agribusiness, policy, and economics. The summit will be one of the most significant global agriculture forums of 2026, attended by more than 300 delegates and featuring top level speakers from Ireland and overseas. 

Internationally-renowned economist David McWilliams has been confirmed as the headline speaker. An Adjunct Professor of Global Economics at Trinity College Dublin, author and podcaster, Mr. McWilliams is widely respected for his incisive analysis of global economic trends and their effects on societies and industries. His address will offer a macroeconomic perspective on food security, trade dynamics, and global responsibility.

The summit programme will also feature a distinguished line‑up of Irish and International speakers and panelists, including: Simon Coveney, former Tánaiste and former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Ksenija Simovic, Senior Policy Advisor, Copa-Cogeca, Brussels; Marie Donnelly, Chairperson, Climate Change Advisory Council; Professor Rogier Schulte, Chair of Future Farming and Food Systems, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

 Speaking ahead of the event, newly appointed Chair of Nuffield Ireland and Ireland’s first ever female Nuffield Scholar, Gráinne Dwyer said: “Hosting the Agri-Summit is a defining moment for Ireland. As a small nation with a global agricultural footprint, we sit at the intersection of innovation, responsibility and opportunity. The challenges facing global food security are immense, but so is our capacity to shape real solutions.

 This Summit will confront the toughest questions facing modern agriculture with voices that challenge convention and demand serious reflection. Expect rigorous debate, uncomfortable truths, and a speaker line-up that goes beyond the usual agri circuit. Our Agri-Summit is designed to test assumptions and sharpen leadership thinking, to forge together a sustainable path for global agriculture in an uncertain world.”

 Chair of the FBD Trust, Michael Berkery, added: “As founder Investor of Nuffield Ireland we are delighted and proud to sponsor the 2026 Nuffield Agri-Summit, a groundbreaking event in Ireland’s agricultural calendar. We have long taken the view that Nuffield Ireland, and the Nuffield global agricultural leadership development programme it brings to Irish farmers and other agri-professionals, are perfectly aligned with the values and mission of the FBD Trust. We look forward to welcoming international alumni and Irish agricultural stakeholders to this exceptional event.”

 Under the theme ‘Feed the World – Our Responsibility?’, the summit will address the urgent and complex pressures facing global food systems including: the responsibilities of food‑producing nations; the balance between domestic sustainability targets and global needs and obligations; the role of multinational agri‑food corporates; how geopolitics are reshaping agri-food, as food security is increasingly recognised as integral to national and global security; and the impact of managing geoeconomic risks such as migration, labour markets, and demand patterns.

The event will conclude with a gala banquet featuring the 4th Earl of Iveagh, Edward Guinness, a significant figure in the agricultural sector, particularly in regenerative farming practices, in conversation with broadcaster Seán O’Rourke.

The Agri-Summit is the flagship event of the 14th Nuffield Triennial, which runs from May 18-26, 2026. Held every three years in a different member country, the Triennial fosters collaboration among Nuffield Scholars worldwide. 

Tickets for the 2026 Nuffield Agri-Summit, including the gala banquet, are €175 and are expected to sell quickly. To register your place, visit www.nuffield2026.com.

The 2026 Nuffield Agri-Summit is kindly supported by FBD Trust.

Every year International Dawn Chorus Day celebrates the natural wonder of birdsong and in particular the dawn chorus, a phenomenon that takes place every morning during the breeding season and starts even before the sun rises writes Branch member Nicholas Mitchell. This year it is on Sunday, May 3 and you can tune in to RTÉ Radio 1 that morning, shortly after midnight, or you can enjoy it in your own garden, local park or surrounding countryside.

Avian spring migrants started leaving their over-wintering grounds in Africa many weeks ago and have been arriving at their northern hemisphere breeding grounds, including Ireland, since April. These summer visitors, like Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat, have all added to the chorus of birdsong that began with our resident birds as far back as February. This means that, by the time we get to May, the volume and variety of the chorus has increased manyfold, especially at dawn and dusk.

That is why the West Cork Branch of BirdWatch Ireland hosts a dawn chorus event most years during May. However, every so often, we run a Dusk Chorus event instead. And this is one of those years. The birdsong at this time of day does not have quite the same impact that it does at dawn, in that the chorus does not build to a crescendo. However, it is not without its benefits. There is the obvious bonus of not having to set an alarm clock at some unearthly hour. Another is that the birdsong is more ‘spread out’ and less of a wall of noise. This allows different birdsong of each bird to be separated and highlighted more easily for the audience. Also this time of day makes it more appealing as a family event.

The event will start at 8pm in the Long Strand car park, Castlefreke. We will gather there for a while and then probably walk up into the woods behind. It will last an hour or so and, as with most Branch outings, it is free of charge and open to everyone. Any walking will be on good paths and appropriate footwear is recommended, as is warm clothing and, most importantly, midge repellent!

BirdWatch Ireland West Cork Branch News

Upcoming outings being held by the Branch are:
Sunday May 24: Dusk Chorus at Long Strand, Castlefreke
Sunday May 31: Cape Clear Island

Visit our website www.birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie for more information about these events. For more information about the Branch, contact Fiona O’Neill at secretary@birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie.

Facebook @BirdWatchIrelandWestCork

Instagram @birdwatch_ireland_west_cork

Gerard Shannon, author of ‘Rory O’Connor: To Defend the Republic’, writes on the connection between Dick Barrett and the subject of his new book, Rory O’Connor

The public memory of the Irish republican and revolutionary Dick Barrett looms large over Cork, especially the west of the county, during the revolutionary period of the early 20th century. Born in 1889, in Hollyhill, Ballineen, Co. Cork, Barrett, by the time of the Irish War of Independence, would emerge as a prominent leadership figure in the Cork No. 3 Brigade that encompassed West Cork. He would be the brigade’s quartermaster and later would ascend to the staff of the First Southern Division under General Liam Lynch. His comrade Peader O’Donnell later remarked how Barrett had once been close to Michael Collins, on the pro-Treaty side, and recalled Barrett as “a keen, searching mind with strong conspiratorial genius.”

Barrett remains best known for the circumstances of his death at the height of the Irish Civil War, when Barrett was opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, regarding it as a betrayal of the Irish Republic as declared in 1916. On December 8, 1922, Barrett was executed before a firing squad along three other prominent republicans and anti-Treaty IRA leaders: Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O’Connor. All four had publicly opposed the Treaty and creation of the Irish Free State, a British dominion consisting of twenty-six counties of Ireland (the remaining six counties encompassing Northern Ireland). The National Army had imprisoned all four shortly after the defeat at the anti-Treaty IRA’s Four Courts garrison, of which Barrett was part, at the beginning of the Civil War. 

Their execution was an illegal reprisal, and on the instruction of the Irish government at the time headed by WT Cosgrave. Of particular cruelty was the fact the four men were put to death for an incident none of them had a part in: The assassination of pro-Treaty TD, Seán Hales, by members of the anti-Treaty IRA, the day before. Hales, in a great irony had been a close friend and comrade of Dick Barrett in the West Cork Brigade prior to the split over the Treaty. Hales’ family would even publicly condemn the executions of Barrett and the other three men.

Hales had been shot on Dublin’s quays because of orders issued by the anti-Treaty IRA leader, Liam Lynch. Lynch strongly opposed new government legislation that had allowed for the executions of republican prisoners, which had included the leading figure Erskine Childers. However, the executions of Barrett and his three comrades were illegal and outside the parameters of this. Their deaths were intended to demoralise the anti-Treaty members still fighting and prevent further shootings of pro-government TDs. In one of his last letters, addressed to his fellow prisoners in Mountjoy, Barrett wrote: “I hope you will all live through to the Faith of our National Fathers and when called on to do a great thing for Ireland, you will face it manfully. Do not bear ill will or dream of reprisals, the cause is too holy for ignoble deeds.”

Among the men executed with Barrett, most ambiguous today is undoubtedly the popular memory of Rory O’Connor. Ironically, at the time of his death at the age of 39, O’Connor was perhaps the best known of the four men. His background suggested an unlikely revolutionary, the son of a wealthy, prominent, Dublin-based solicitor. O’Connor had risen in the ranks of the Volunteers and became the IRA’s Director of Engineering. He also masterminded several high-profile prison escapes of republicans and IRA operations in Great Britain. O’Connor was also the first of the IRA’s General Headquarters Staff to oppose the Treaty. In April 1922, O’Connor would direct members of the IRA’s Dublin Brigade to seize the Four Courts complex on Dublin’s quays in defiance of the new pro-Treaty government. The Four Courts would be where Mellows and O’Connor would be arrested several days after the fall of the garrison at the start of the Irish Civil War on 28 June 1922. 

Most poignantly, one of those ministers that approved their executions months later was Kevin O’Higgins, then Minister for Home Affairs. Only over a year before, Rory O’Connor was the best man at O’Higgins wedding – several weeks before the signing of the Treaty. Both men shared a genuinely warm and close friendship. Days after O’Higgins wedding, he wrote to O’Connor and referred to him as “the bestest best man that ever rounded up a bridegroom”.

Over a year later, O’Higgins agonised over the decision to execute the four men. There was no signing of a death warrant as persists in popular lore, but O’Higgins was without question part of the collective cabinet decision, and the death of the four men became a central component of his legacy. Nearly five years later, and four years after the end of the civil war, O’Higgins was assassinated by members of the IRA’s Dublin Brigade while walking the streets of south Dublin – a particularly violent result of the executions on December 8, 1922. 

Gerard Shannon is the author of ‘Rory O’Connor: To Defend the Republic’, now available from Merrion Press.

We spoke back in February about the significant changes to several SEAI grant schemes. As of February 3, 2026, heat pump grants have increased to a maximum of €12,500. This total now includes a new €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus (essentially a boiler scrappage scheme) and a €2,000 Central Heating Upgrade grant, alongside existing supports. Crucially, this level of funding is now available through Better Energy Homes individual grants – which previously capped out at €6,500 – as well as the One Stop Shop, (OSS) route. Grants for attic and cavity wall insulation have also seen an uplift.

At the start of March, the highly-anticipated Windows and Doors grant launched under the individual measure scheme, previously only available under the OSS grant route. This rollout included higher supports for households receiving certain Social Protection payments and new attic insulation grants specifically for first-time buyers. Additionally, homeowners who previously received a grant for cavity or internal wall insulation may now qualify for a second wall insulation grant.

From what we’ve seen through our own business, the window and door grant is causing the most confusion – which isn’t surprising. The rules and application process are more complex than most other measures, and the full details aren’t always clear on the SEAI website. This month, I want to dive deeper into the intricate details of these new grants.

First, let’s cover the straightforward requirements:

Property Age: Your house must have been built and occupied before 2011.

Performance: New windows and doors must meet a U-value of 1.4 or better (a U-value measures heat loss; the lower the number, the better the insulation).

Contractor: You must use an SEAI-registered contractor.

Timeline: You must apply online via the SEAI Better Energy Homes portal before you start the work.

Payment: You have the work completed, pay the contractor, have a BER assessment completed afterward and then claim the grant back.

The complexity lies in the ‘fabric-first’ criteria specific to windows and doors. To qualify, your home must meet one of the following:

Heat Loss Indicator (HLI): You must achieve an HLI of 2.3 or lower after the windows/doors are fitted. This is the same metric used to determine heat pump readiness.

Advisory Report: Alternatively, your BER Advisory Report must show your walls and roof as being rated ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’.

Confirming eligibility is tricky and depends on the age of your home and your current BER status.

If you have a BER (Post-July 2021): You likely have the new-format Advisory Report. You can check this immediately to see your current HLI and wall/roof ratings.

If you have a BER (Pre-July 2021): These older reports don’t display this level of detail. The full data would need to be requested from the SEAI for review, which usually requires professional assistance.

If you don’t have a BER: You will likely need a pre-BER assessment to check eligibility and determine if upgrades to your attic or walls are required first.

Note on 2005-2010 Homes: Houses in this age bracket often meet the ‘Good’ wall and roof definitions by default due to the building regulations of that time.

In all cases, a final BER is required to claim the grant. If you are relying on an existing BER to check compliance, it makes sense to use the same assessor for the final BER to ensure consistency. If starting from scratch, most assessors, including ourselves, now offer a combined ‘pre-and-post’ BER service for these grants.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a ‘whole house’ upgrade. You cannot get the grant to replace just a few windows while leaving poor-performing ones behind. If you’ve upgraded some windows recently (within the last 10 years), they likely already meet the 1.4 U-value and can be retained, provided you can supply a Declaration of Performance from the original supplier.

As always, if you would like to get in touch about anything in this article or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out: ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

Gardening By John Hosford

As April unfolds, the days are lengthening, and with the clocks having shifted forward to Summer Time at the end of March, we now enjoy those extra evening hours. This extended daylight offers a wonderful opportunity to catch up on various gardening tasks. There’s plenty to do this month, from seed sowing both indoors and outdoors to weeding, planting, and pruning.

Cut back evergreen shrubs

Start by cutting back evergreen shrubs. It’s an ideal time to prune Mediterranean shrubs such as lavender and rosemary; make sure to cut them back to healthy buds. Avoid trimming into old, lifeless wood, as this may not reshoot. Plants like Fatsia, Hebe, and Escallonia can benefit from a light trim, while Ceanothus, Choisya, Daphne, Mahonia, Rhododendrons, Camellias, Azaleas, and Sarcococca should be pruned after flowering, ideally in May or June.

Deadhead daffodils 

Deadheading daffodils and other spring bulbs is essential after the flowers have faded. This practice diverts energy back into the bulbs, helping them bulk up for an even better display next year. If you have water lilies that have outgrown their space, now is the time to divide them. Carefully remove the plant and use a sharp knife to cut the root ball into sections, ensuring each has at least one shoot and some roots. Replant these sections into pond baskets filled with aquatic compost.

Feed trees, shrubs and perennials

Feeding trees, shrubs, and perennials is also crucial this month. Specialised feeds are available for lime-hating plants like Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camellias, Skimmias, Sarcococca, and Kalmia, which will thrive with an application. Roses should also receive their monthly feed with a special rose fertiliser, followed by another application in May and June. When applying fertiliser, spread it out at a distance proportional to the height of the tree or bush, as roots typically expand to a distance equal to the plant’s height.

Vegetable garden

In the vegetable garden, sow peas in a sunny, sheltered position, planting them in a flat-bottomed trench about 5cm deep and 15cm wide, spacing them 7.5 cm apart in a single row or in two rows 30 cm apart. Remember to support them with robust wire netting. For potatoes, plant out second early and maincrop varieties, ensuring second earlies are set 30cm apart in rows 30cm apart and maincrops 37 cm apart. Earthing up first earlies protects the stems from cold weather and encourages more tubers to form. This process can be repeated as later varieties emerge above ground. Protect young crops with a double layer of extra-strength frost protection fleece, cloches, or cold frames.

You can also sow carrots and cabbages in prepared beds, covering them with fleece or insect-proof mesh to protect against carrot fly and cabbage white butterflies, whose larvae can devastate brassicas like cabbages, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. Additionally, sow courgettes, vegetable marrows, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, melons, sweet corn, runner beans, and both bush and climbing French beans in 10 cm pots in a heated, frost-free area indoors. You can plant one seed per pot or two and select the strongest seedling once they emerge. These can be moved outdoors at the end of May or early June after hardening off.

Tomato plants can be planted in their fruiting quarters this month, whether in greenhouse soil, grow-bags, or large pots. Trailing varieties are perfect for hanging baskets or window boxes but must be kept frost-free.

Fruit garden

In the fruit garden, mulch raspberry canes with organic matter such as well-composted garden compost or stable manure. If those aren’t available, the excellent Gee-up from Blarney, Co. Cork, is a great substitute and widely available in garden outlets throughout Cork County. Indoors, geraniums, pelargoniums, fuchsias, and streptocarpus should now start receiving regular weekly liquid feeds. A seaweed-based fertiliser works well, and these plants should be fed weekly until early October to encourage healthy growth and blooming.

Citrus trees should begin receiving special citrus feed. Once the frost has passed at the end of May, they can be moved outdoors, provided they have drainage holes. Houseplants will require more frequent watering, and it’s best to stand them in a sink while watering, allowing them to drain without standing in water for more than 30 minutes.

April flowers

April also brings a delightful array of flowering plants. Bergenia showcases white, pink, and red flowers on glossy, leathery leaves and serves as excellent ground cover for early colour. Brunnera, with its green and variegated varieties, offers dainty blue flowers. The profuse blooms of crab apples are followed by attractive autumn fruit, while dogs tooth violets present low, clump-forming bulbs for shade. Dicentra spectabilis, or bleeding heart, boasts tall, elegant foliage.

Exochorda produces profuse white flowers, while Fritillaria persica captivates with purple spires of bloom, best planted as bulbs in autumn. Flowering cherries offer a stunning display of pink and white flowers, and some varieties feature attractive polished bark. Pulmonaria provides early colour in low-growing shades of blue, red, and white. Many rhododendron varieties will be in bloom this month, thriving in lime-free, ericaceous compost and benefiting from annual feed with a specific Rhododendron/Azalea fertiliser. Tulips will also be in flower, presenting a variety of colours, so remember to protect them from slugs.

For bedding and patio plants, containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets can now be planted and established in a greenhouse. Use fresh compost and include a slow-release fertiliser. Ensure window boxes have drainage outlets before planting.

Lastly, keep your lawn in check by mowing regularly, starting with the blades at their highest setting. Gradually lower the setting by the end of the month. Feed established lawns, aerate to rake out thatch, and give your lawn a spring feed. If you’re establishing new lawns, prepare the ground properly.

April is a vibrant month in the garden, full of opportunities to nurture and enjoy your plants. 

Happy gardening!

With Easter upon us it is perhaps timely to dwell on a painting, which not only resonates with the season, but also articulates the horror that continues to unfold in the Middle East and Ukraine. This is Marc Chagall’s ‘Golgotha’ of 1912, perhaps the most luminous, prismatic painting of the crucifixion in art history. It differs from all others in its non-literal transformation of the biblical scene: in place of an adult Christ is a blue child, ‘crucified’ on the arc of an emerald green sky. It is a deeply mysterious vision, one that speaks more, perhaps, of resurrection, rebirth and renewal, than death. And yet it also invites a darker interpretation, one more prescient to our times: that of the child of the Middle East, the child of Ukraine, crucified by war.

Chagall, a Russian Jew, was not one to be confined by conventions, whether they were pictorial, religious or otherwise. As a Jew, images were largely proscribed, and symbolic Christian images, unthinkable. In painting the crucifixion, the young artist from Vitebsk (Belarus) charted a course that broke completely with Jewish cultural norms. When, later in life, he was invited by the newly formed state of Israel to decorate the interior of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), it came with a caveat: there was to be no Christian imagery, a condition Chagall quietly ignored. It wasn’t that he was pro-Christian, it was the fact that the figure of Christ was a part of his personal metaphoric language, a visual lexicon of images which sought to transcend politics and religion, in its depiction of love, suffering, beauty and eternity.

There is no doubt that his ‘Golgotha’ of 1912 is all four of these things. Chagall had a mysterious ability to evoke the eternal in everything he touched. The arc of the child’s open mouth is echoed by the large circle inscribed in the sky behind him, and by the prismatic arcs in the luminous red ground below. The line rhymes and echo shapes, employed throughout, enable everything to visually resound; nothing is static, everything is alive. In employing a programme of prismatic arcs and intersecting spheres, Chagall achieved a magical unity, at once terrifying in its imagery and beautiful in its manifestation. The result is an image which echoes forever in the mind. 

In 2005, I wrote several poems which dreamt themselves, in part, out of Chagall’s painting. One of these was called ‘Blinded Lethe’ (Lethe was a river of the Greek underworld, which invited oblivion): “I am breathless with discovery / And wounded by the glare / Of the gored and shrapnelled child / Bronze fists of anger immeasurable / A wing of leaden death / You make me transparent  / With your pain / Now I understand Christ / Whose limbs flared and shone / Like mirrors / Like glass / Which shattered and fell / In a rain of transcending passion / Upon the fields / Of blinded Lethe / Who, feeling glass soft as snow / Looked up in astonishment / At the son of man.”

The ‘child’ referenced in this poem occurs periodically in my work, and could be thought of as an archetype for the ‘wounded child.’ The poem itself is driven by an incandescent (and impotent) rage at the power-hungry architects of war, with the ‘wounded child’ being their ever-constant victim. The most recent atrocity – the bombing of a school in Iran – resonates Chagall’s ‘Golgotha’ one hundred times over. By saying this I do not mean to diminish such a heart-numbing loss of so many children to a neat line in an article, but to indicate that art is a quivering limb of life, that it is called to address the most urgent questions of our existence.

That is what archetypes are for, and his employment of them is partly why Chagall’s work is so enduring. His mysterious transformation of the archetype in ‘Golgotha,’ its resounding play of arcs and spheres, its deep, prismatic colour, is why I return to it again and again, every Easter; not as a window into a religious rite, but as a dark, pulsing emblem of suffering, as a reminder of art’s purpose, of its empathic power.

Chagall himself said of this painting, in a conversation with Franz Meyer: “Strictly speaking, there was only a blue child in the air. The Cross was of less interest to me.” The vision he had – palpable, non-verbal, mysterious – was everything. That is the truly creative space: the crucible in which spiritual treasures are born.

They will be releasing their second album this April, in the middle of the month: ‘Evelyn and Dec’. It’s not (yet) a household name but could become one. When their first album, ‘Make for Joy’, was released on Leap Day in 2024, it was named Album of the Week at RTÉ Radio 1. “Their voices are the most idyllic combination,” wrote TradFest (Dublin) last January when they were featured at the festival. 

‘Dec’ is short for a name that will ring a bell for quite a few people: Declan Sinnott. An acclaimed guitarist who worked with Christy Moore for well over 30 years, from the early 1980s until lockdown. He played acoustic, electric and Spanish guitars, violin and provided vocals on Moore’s iconic ‘Ride On’ album (1984) and produced four-and-a-half of his albums. 

He also worked with Mary Black for 13 years, from 1982 onwards, both as a guitarist and as her producer. Both of these working relationships have come to an end but not in a dramatic way at all, he says during the West Cork People interview. “They were very long collaborations. With Mary Black, I played all the gigs, was her producer, suggested a lot of the songs, and came up with the idea of using only Irish songwriters. I suppose I determined the direction to a large extent. With Christy Moore, although here, too, I was playing all the gigs. I didn’t have as much influence. Christie is very much his own man and I would be trying to steer him towards things that I thought might be good for him to do. However, mostly he would just do whatever he wanted to and I’d go along with it.”

Sinnott (born in Wexford, now resident in Bandon) was one of the original members of Horslips, otherwise known as “the Founding Fathers of Celtic Rock” according to Irish Music Daily. The blog also reveals that three of the core members, including Eamon Carr and Barry Devlin, arrived at the idea of forming a band, in 1970, after they had posed as a ‘fake band’ for an advert (for Harp Lager). They then invited Declan Sinnott and spent two years practising and performing before turning professional. Ironically, he left Horslips soon afterwards when it again appeared in an advert (for Mirinda orange juice), which annoyed him. Nine years later, he was asked by two other luminaries of the Irish music scene, Christy Moore and Dónal Lunny, to join what became the Celtic Rock band Moving Hearts before earning further ‘stripes’ in Irish musical history, as he started to work with Mary Black. During the period he was her producer, guitarist and musical director she went from strength to strength in her career. Two platinum-selling solo albums, plenty of plaudits, sell-out tours, international success (in Europe, the US, Japan). He also collaborated with her sister Frances Black, a prominent singer herself and, since 2016, a proactive ‘seanadóir’.

 The list of people that Declan has formed musical partnerships with over the years (he’s now 75) is long and impressive. As to the main ones, apart from the aforementioned singers, there’s John (Spillane), Niamh (Murphy), Hank (Wedel), Victoria (Keating), Sinead (Lohan), Jessie (Whitehead), Owen (O’Brien). 

And now there is Evelyn (Kallansee). Born on Curaçao, an island and former Spanish and Dutch colony off the coast of Venezuela, she grew up in a midsize town in North Holland. Evelyn sang in large musical and theatre productions such as Les Misérables and Evita, was a backing vocalist for well-known Dutch and international singers, acted in TV-series, and fronted Tristan, an acid jazz band that became popular in Japan and the UK.  

So how did she end up in Ireland?

“My in-laws would always go here on walking holidays and brought back beautiful photographs. After about 15 years of them trekking all over Ireland, my husband and I decided to check it out, went to Kerry and really fell in love with the place. And in 2011 we bought a house on the Beara Peninsula. At that time I stated, on a whim, that we’d move to Ireland in 2020. A nice round number and I would turn 50 in that year so it became our goal. And then we arrived two days before lockdown. That changed everything. Before coming to Ireland, I thought: I’ve had my career and done so many things, it’s okay, I’ll just start singing in pubs. Of course, they all closed down. And then I met Declan. He was such a joy to work with.”

Sinnott: “I was recording with another musician called Hank Wedel. He wanted harmonies on two tracks. When he discovered that Evelyn was in the country, he asked her to come and sing. When I heard her, a light bulb went on in my head and I thought, that’s very interesting. Not just the sound of her voice. Equally, her efficiency and professionalism.”

Evelyn: “I also work as a breath-work coach and do meditation for a Dutch company, the ‘I AM’ Academy. They had commissioned me to write a song for them but I’d just arrived in Ireland I had no idea who to do it with. When I met Declan I knew I had to try it with him.” The song, ‘Love Light’, became one of the 11 songs on Make for Joy, available on Bandcamp. Their second CD, Wait Up, will be launched and presented in April (see below for details). 

A lot of their songs seem to come about organically or should that be intuitively? 

Evelyn: “There is no fixed formula.”

Declan: “For the song called Wait Up, I put down a drum groove. Then Evelyn went to the microphone as I picked up an electric guitar. We just improvised and what we created added up to a well-rounded song. It was the first time we worked like that.”

Their music is very comfortable and reassuring. What stands out are the strong melody lines, the harmonies, Evelyn’s voice. And there is no doubt that whatever string and other sounds Declan produces, they are world class. A balm for the nervous system.

www.evelynanddec.com

Concerts:

April 24, St. John’s Theatre, Listowel

April 25, St. Patrick’s Church, Kenmare

April 26, Sarah Walker Gallery, Castletownbere

I’ve been checking out chocolate cakes for this month’s easter recipe and it’s led me down an interesting path. Our chocolate and hazelnut cake, which used to be so popular in our shop, first came to mind. However when my brain scanned the ingredients, I realised that the 300 grams of chocolate required to make one cake was a huge investment at today’s chocolate prices. We are all horrified at the rising price of fuel but the rising price of chocolate would be even more shocking if it was an essential, as the price has stealthily risen by 100 per cent a kilo in the past five years. I talked to Niamh from Hungry Crow, the classy fairtrade chocolate shop in Clonakilty, and she said that the world of the cocoa bean is faced with a combination of climate chaos and human rights issues, which has led to crop failure and driven the prices sky high. Even the big suppliers find this problematic but hedge around the issue by reducing chocolate bar size and pumping up the packaging.

I started sifting through my files – there are many ways to make a chocolate cake – and came upon an ancient French recipe, one of the first chocolate cakes that I ever made. It only needs 120g chocolate, so it’s a little more budget-friendly. The recipe has been tweaked many  times over the years as we had so many requests for gluten- and dairy-free cakes and it’s quite a flexible recipe. Olive oil is delicious in this cake – it complements the chocolate and makes a light, moist sponge. The flour can be regular or gluten-free, it doesn’t make any discernible difference to the end cake – both versions are below.

I played around with the chocolate content, swapping out the chocolate for cocoa, which works well, but I have to say that when I made both cakes side by side. even though both were delicious and got scoffed, my testers opted for the chocolate version, when asked to choose their favourite.

The first time I ate chocolate with olive oil was in Spain where we were served a small chocolate cup, which contained a little puddle of olive oil and a few seasalt flakes. I thought I’d gone to heaven, what a combination! I think I have been chasing that taste profile ever since.

Chocolate is far from vital in our lives but recent studies at the University of Pisa have brought to light that a combination of chocolate and olive oil can bring health benefits. Twenty-six volunteers, who were all susceptible to some kind of cardiac risk, took part in a 28-day trail eating a combination of 70 per cent chocolate and extra virgin olive oil.  The results showed a positive effect on blood pressure and cholesterol readings. 

Dark chocolate, at least 70 per cent, and extra virgin olive oil are both high in polyphenols and beneficial antioxidants, which reduce inflammation, improve blood pressure, circulation and help reduce cholesterol. It’s proven that when consumed together they can have a powerful effect,  making us energised, focused and healthy. Check out the internet for more information if you’re interested. It sounds like we’re okay to eat  sensible amounts of 70 per cent chocolate and olive oil – it could even have us skipping down the street.

So here you go, a cake with health benefits! 

Chocolate and
Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients:

• 120 mls extra virgin olive oil

• 120g caster sugar

• 120g chocolate

• 60g white flour, sieved OR 40g rice flour+20g potato flour

• 60g ground almonds

• 3 large eggs, separated

Method: Prepare a 20cm cake tin. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and rub the side with olive oil

Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Put a pan with a small amount of water onto heat. Put the chocolate into a bowl and sit the bowl onto the saucepan. The bowl should sit above the water. Gently melt the chocolate. 

In a large bowl whisk the olive oil and sugar together until creamy, then add the egg yolks one by one. Add the melted chocolate and then the ground almonds. Put aside while you whisk the whites.

Put the egg whites into a large clean bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer), be sure the bowl is clean and there are no traces of yolk otherwise the whites won’t whip. Begin whisking, quite slowly if you’re using a machine, then increase the speed, whisk until they begin to hold their form but are still quite loose, add 1tbs sugar, then whisk until the egg whites are stiff. The bowl should hold glossy white peaks. When you get to this point stop as it’s possible to over whisk which will make the whites grainy and more difficult to fold in.

Using a large metal spoon or a spatula gently fold in one-third of the whites into the chocolate mix, then one-third of the flour. Do this twice more.

Pour  the mix into the prepared tin and bake  for about 25 mins. Test with a clean knife. Insert the knife into the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean the cake is ready. 

Leave to cool and then turn out onto a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before topping.

Chocolate Topping

Ingredients:

• 75g chocolate

• 1.5 tbs olive oil

Method: Melt the chocolate and olive oil  together over a pot of boiling water. Allow to cool a little before spreading over the top and sides of the cake. Do this slowly and if it’s too runny wait a while then try again. Leave to set before eating.

Happy Easter!

By Dave Rees and Nicholas Mitchell

The West Cork Branch held the inaugural first bird race on January 29, 2017. Apparently there had been a bird race in earlier years but no records exist. Our Chair at the time, Paul Connaughton, felt that this would be a great opportunity to showcase birding in West Cork and attract both experienced and novice birders. Six teams registered for that first race. The number of teams entering the race remained the broadly same for the first few years and then there was a gap for Covid in 2021 and 2022. On its resumption, registrations started to increase, and families and students started to come along. 

The race is now held on the first Sunday in February and this year a record 16 teams registered. The teams gathered at Scally’s car park, ready for the 8.30am start. There was the usual excited chat going on, with friends catching up, renewing friendly rivalries and trying not to give away too much about their plans: where they would head first or their treasured spots for guaranteed birds. The weather was set fair, with no rain forecast, but the sun’s glare was going to be an issue, particularly when looking out to sea. The high tide times were not the friendliest either, with high tide in Clonakilty not due until late afternoon.

At 8.30am sharp the teams scattered to their chosen first spots. The race is confined to an area between the boatyard at Ring in the east and the pier at Rosscarbery in the west, with the N71 road the northern boundary. For some teams, meticulous planning goes into deciding how best to spend their time and which sites have to be visited at certain times. For others it’s a day out birding with friends. Although the teams disperse, there are times when they bump into each other. Our own team, for example, met two others at Sands Cove. We had headed there to look for Rock Pipit, which had been surprisingly difficult to find during the day. Not only did we find Rock Pipit, but had the unexpected bonus of a Black Redstart.  At these unexpected meetings, there is the usual banter and pretence of doing really well, before finally admitting that the day is a little quiet.

As always there’s the last minute rush to call in at a few more sites and try to add one or two extra species to the list before getting back to O’Donovan’s Hotel by 6pm, which is where the fun starts. Whilst the organisers tot up the scores, the stories begin as to who saw what and where. Then the scores are in and announced. This year the winning team was The East Corkers (Paul Moore, Denis O’Sullivan, John Coveney and Mark Shorten) with an impressive total of 100 species, narrowly beating the local C Team (Ciarán Cronin, Colin Bartin, Calvin Jone and Christopher O’Sullivan) by one bird! And in third place with an amazing 95 was the family team Bob’s Mighty Munch Bunch (Sam Bayley, Lucy Bayley (5), Wayne Greene-Salm, Lulu Greene-Salm (11) and Heidi Greene-Salm (9)). Once again we are grateful to Dena, and Tommy (RIP), and their team for hosting us once more at O’Donovan’s.

Since the race started nine years ago, 132 species have been recorded. This year some of the highlights included Black Redstart, Glossy Ibis and Great Spotted Woodpecker.  But the real winner and highlight was the day itself. A great day was had birdwatching in West Cork in good weather and meeting up with other birders later in the day. For those of us involved in organising the race, it was fantastic to see so many teams turn out and in particular to the number of youngsters joining in and obviously enjoying the day. If this sounds like fun, why not put a team together for next year’s race on Sunday, February 4? See you at the start!

In the meantime, why not join us at one of our forthcoming outings. Unless expressly stated, all our events are free and are open to everyone; you do not need to be a member of BirdWatch Ireland

BirdWatch Ireland
West Cork Branch News

Upcoming outings:

Sunday, April 19: Bilingual Nature Walk idir Gaeilge agus Béarla, Baile Bhuirne 

During April: Ad hoc migration outings notified on our WhatsApp Group. The joining link can be found on the home page of our website 

Visit www.birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie for details of upcoming events.

For more information, contact Fiona O’Neill at secretary@birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie

Follow us on: Facebook: @BirdWatchIrelandWestCork. Instagram: @birdwatch_ireland_west_cork

I know it can be a divisive vegetable, but I have to say I love beetroot. I love it in salads – cooked or raw – and I love it roasted. And I especially love that the whole plant is not just edible but tasty – the leaves are delicious cooked like spinach – in fact in some cultures the leaves are prized more than the roots. 

Beetroots are so vibrant, and have so many health benefits – too many to cover! I’m only going to manage to summarise the most researched ones here. 

While beetroot has been celebrated in kitchens for centuries, recent nutrition research helps explain exactly ‘why’ this humble vegetable is such a superfood. 

Adding beetroots in your diet, or taking a daily shot of beetroot juice, can have significant health benefits and can in some cases reduce the need for medication. I used a website I like called NutritonFacts.org for the research mentioned below, in case you want to check out the references. 

One of the best-studied health benefits of beetroot comes from its high nitrate content. Unlike the nitrates you find in sausages and other processed foods, the nitrates in beetroot are converted in the body into nitric oxide – a molecule that relaxes and widens blood vessels, improves blood flow and helps to lower blood pressure. Even if that was the end of their health benefits, beetroots should win a Nobel Health Prize! 

Beetroot’s heart-friendly properties are mirrored in its shape and colour – particularly when cooked, it looks just like a human heart – in case we needed a visual reminder of its benefits. 

In terms of high blood pressure, there are clinical studies that show that drinking beetroot juice or consuming nitrate-rich beetroots can significantly reduce systolic blood pressure, with effects that begin within hours of consumption and last throughout the day. And of course with no side effects, just side benefits! 

The same nitrates that help support healthy blood pressure also help with exercise efficiency and performance.

Research reviewed on NutritionFacts.org highlights that nitrate consumption can improve the efficiency with which the body uses oxygen during exercise. This means muscles can work harder or longer with the same amount of oxygen, which can translate into better endurance and performance, especially in endurance sports such as cycling or running.

Some studies reported that cyclists who consumed beetroot juice required less oxygen to compete at a high intensity compared to those who didn’t – a measure of improved aerobic efficiency.

Beetroot isn’t just a pretty veg – the deep dark red colour comes from betalains, a class of phytonutrients with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds help combat oxidative stress – the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body, which is linked to many forms of chronic disease.

Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are implicated in heart disease, cancer, and metabolic disorders. While dietary antioxidants don’t cure disease, eating antioxidant-rich foods like beetroot contributes to our body’s ability to neutralise free radicals and support healthy cellular function.

Beyond the heart and muscles, improved circulation matters to the brain too. Some emerging research suggests that better blood flow – facilitated by nitric oxide from dietary nitrates – may help maintain cognitive function as we age, and even reduce the progression of dementia. 

One of the more curious phenomena associated with beet consumption is beeturia – when urine (or sometimes stool) takes on a pink or reddish colour. It’s nothing to be worried about though – it’s just the colourful beetroot making its way out of your system.

In addition to nitrates and betalains, beetroot brings a range of important micronutrients to the table. It’s a source of vitamins like folate (important for cell growth and cardiovascular health), minerals such as potassium (which supports nerve and muscle function), and dietary fibre, which is beneficial for digestive health.

If you have an inflammatory bowel condition, adding beetroot to your diet could be very helpful. Maybe start with the juice and if that is tolerated well, see how you do with cooked beetroot. 

Beetroot’s earthy sweetness makes it a wonderful ingredient in salads, smoothies, soups, roasted vegetable dishes, and juices. Many people find beetroot even tastier when combined with orange juice or ginger.

We have some fantastic Irish beetroot products. The West Cork based Cultured Food Company offers a fermented beetroot kvass with ginger and a jar of sliced fermented beetroot, while Feighery’s Farm produces an Irish-grown beetroot juice mixed with apple juice –  both delicious ways to enjoy beetroot. In Organico, we also stock locally made sliced and pickled beetroot, a selection of organic juices, and beetroot and raw broccoli sprout shots from NHNH.

For those who want the health benefits without eating a whole beetroot daily, a small daily juice shot works well. Alternatively, Nature’s Plus Organic Beetroot Powder can be added to smoothies or drinks. Capsules are also an option for convenience. But whatever happens we should all eat the beets! 

This isn’t medical advice – please do your research thoroughly and consult a medical professional if you are on medication or have a serious health concern.