John Anthony Feehan M.A., MSc, PhD, M.I.L.I. (born 12 May 1946) is an Irish geologist, botanist, author and broadcaster. He was born in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. Feehan received his early education with the Presentation Brothers in Birr and the Salesian Fathers at Heywood. Following a number of years as a member of the Salesian Congregation including working as a teacher in England and Ireland, he studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. After a year of voluntary teaching service in South Africa, he returned to Trinity College to study geology under Charles Hepworth Holland, receiving his PhD on the geology of the Slieve Bloom and Devilsbit Mountains in 1980. He was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin, where he taught for twenty years up to his retirement in 2012. In May 2021, he was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy. [1] Feehan married Róisín Gilmore in 1975 and they have two children: Jane and Christiaan.
Feehan is an environmental communicator whose work is driven by a deep commitment to the maintenance of rural biodiversity and cultural heritage, and the sustaining of rural community. [2] [3] [4] He has written extensively on the natural and cultural heritage of the Irish landscape and on many broader aspects of environmental science. [5] [6] In 1986 and 1990 he wrote and presented the television series Exploring the Landscape and Tar Amach Faoin Aer / Exploring the Celtic Lands, [7] produced by Éamon de Buitléar and directed by Paddy Breathnach, for which he received a Jacob's Television Award in 1988. He has been recognised by the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management from whom he has received their Environmental Merit Award for involvement in environmental issues and his role in bringing to the attention of the public the importance of environmental heritage. He has also received a special award from Bord na Móna for his work in communicating environmental values.
Feehan teaches on a range of summer schools, field courses and postgraduate programmes, including the Offaly Naturalists' Field Club [8] and at An Taiseach, the Dominican Ecology Centre in Wicklow. [9]
Feehan is particularly well known as an interpreter of the Irish landscape (Feehan, 1979; 1984). He actively engages with agriculture and industry to build appreciation and understanding of biodiversity, and to develop conservation and restoration strategies. He is a strong advocate for community supported agriculture and integrated mixed farming as a means of maximising natural capital of land and sustaining rural community. His major work on Irish agriculture, "Farming in Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment" (2003) [10] takes stock of the impacts of agricultural intensification of the last 50 years, evaluates the principal challenges facing Irish farming today, and presents a vision for the future. [11] [12]
Between 1992 and 2008 he collaborated with Bord na Móna on Ireland's peatland heritage. He has developed principles for the restoration of the country's post-extraction peatlands, emphasising their potential for biodiversity and as a rich amenity resource for local communities. This theme is developed in his authoritative The Bogs of Ireland: an introduction to the natural, cultural and industrial heritage of Irish peatlands (Feehan and O'Donovan, 1996, revised and reprinted in 2008). [13] [14]
Building on his work on restoration and management of peatland landscapes, Feehan has worked with mining and quarrying interests. His contribution has helped the extractive industries to comply with European best environmental practice. [15]
The remarkable role of the potato in Irish agriculture – before, during, and since the Famine – is a particular interest of Feehan's. This is the subject of his contribution to the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine (2012), [16] which was named Best Irish Published Book of the Year. In 2010, at a special ceremony, Feehan was awarded Honorary Membership of the Irish Landscape Institute www.irishlandscapeinsitute.com, the officially recognised professional body representing landscape architects and parks professionals in Ireland. He is also an Honorary Life Member of the Cork Geological Association and the County Kildare Archaeological Society.
During his research on the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Irish Lower Palaeozoic in the 1970s, Feehan discovered what are still amongst the oldest known vascular plant fossils (Feehan and Edwards, 1980; Edwards, Feehan and Smith, 1983). These fossils indicated that higher plants colonised land at least 415 million years ago. The discovery extended the history of vascular plants back to the mid-Silurian period, far earlier than had previously been thought, a discovery that received international recognition. [17]
His research interests later diversified to include pollination biology of tropical mistletoes (Loranthaceae) which he studied over a three-year period in Malawi (Feehan, 1985). [18] More recently, his Grasses of Ireland (2012), produced in collaboration with Teagasc – 'an unexpectedly lovely and absorbing new book' [19] – seeks both to inspire and to inform the reader about the most important plant family in agriculture which produces 70% of the crops we grow and is the principal food of many of our farm animals.
Currently, Feehan is building on his postgraduate research, interpreting new findings on the geology of the Irish midlands and relating this to broader cultural heritage. Aiming to inform and inspire the non-expert, his current work with Offaly County Council and the Heritage Council provides new insights, showing how geology is expressed in the landscapes and local life of counties Laois and Offaly. The resulting book 'The Geology of Laois and Offaly' (Feehan, 2013) has been described as 'one of the best books to be published in Ireland on geology or the Irish landscape'. [20] [21] [22]
Since 2010 he has devoted his attention to the interface between religion and science. His book on creation spirituality, The Singing Heart of the World (Feehan, 2010), was published in Dublin by Columba Press [23] and in New York by Orbis Books in 2012. [24] The book won a Nautilus Book Award in 2013 (category 'Science/Cosmology'). [25] His book on creation spirituality, Every Bush Aflame: God in the Natural World is due for release by Veritas in Dublin.[ when? ]
One hundred years ago, Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger led a survey of the natural history and cultural heritage of Clare Island at a level of detail greater than any area of comparable size at that time. Almost a century later, the Royal Irish Academy set about repeating the exercise with the intention of assessing and evaluating change on the island over the intervening years. John Feehan was entrusted with the task of leading the synthesis of the updated Survey, bringing the work of Robert Lloyd Praeger into the 21st century and resulting in the landmark publication Clare Island (New Survey of Clare Island Volume 11) (Feehan, 2019).
In May 2020 John Feehan launched a new series of online films about Irish wildflowers, Wildflowers with John Feehan. [26] Hosted by the Offaly County Council Heritage channel on YouTube, [27] the series encompasses 50 species through the seasons, beginning with primrose and concluding with ivy. Each short film is an intimate and informative encounter with a chosen species, explaining the flower morphology, giving the pollinators' view of the flower, putting the species in its taxonomic context, and alluding to cultural and medicinal uses of the species. The series was initially launched to bring elements of Feehan's teaching online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has grown into a larger project with over 21,000 views of the films to date. A second series is planned for 2021.
County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Historically, it has also been known as County Leix.
County Tipperary is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland. It is Ireland's largest inland county and shares a border with eight counties, more than any other. The population of the county was 159,553 at the 2016 census. The largest towns are Clonmel, Nenagh and Thurles.
County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain. Offaly County Council is the local authority for the county. The county population was 82,668 at the 2022 census.
Birr is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town with a carefully preserved Georgian heritage. Birr itself has graceful wide streets and elegant buildings. Many of the houses in John's Place and Oxmantown Mall have exquisite fanlight windows of the Georgian period. The town is known for Birr Castle and gardens, home of the Parsons family, and also the site of the Leviathan of Parsonstown, the largest telescope in the world for over 70 years, and a large modern radio telescope.
Portarlington, historically called Cooletoodera, is a town on the border of County Laois and County Offaly, Ireland. The River Barrow forms the border. Portarlington is around 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Dublin. The town was recorded in the 2016 census as having a population of 8,368.
The Bog of Allen is a large raised bog in the centre of Ireland between the rivers Liffey and Shannon.
The Royal College of Science for Ireland (RCScI) was an institute for higher education in Dublin which existed from 1867 to 1926, specialising in physical sciences and applied science. It was originally based on St. Stephen's Green, moving in 1911 to a purpose-built "Royal College of Science" building on Merrion Street, now known as Government Buildings. In 1926 it was absorbed into University College Dublin (UCD) as the faculty of Science and Engineering.
The Slieve Bloom Mountains is a mountain range in Ireland. They rise from the central plain of Ireland to a height of 527 metres (1,729 ft). While not very high, they are extensive by local standards. The highest points are Arderin at the southwestern end of the range and Baunreaghcong at the end of the Ridge of Capard.
The 2006 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 120th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament, since its establishment in 1887. The draw for the provincial fixtures took place on 12 November 2005. The championship began on 14 May 2006 and ended on 3 September 2006
The kingdom of Uí Fháilghe, Uí Failge or Uíbh Fhailí was a Gaelic-Irish kingdom which existed to 1550, the name of which is preserved in the name of County Offaly, Ireland.
The 2000 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the 114th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county hurling tournament. The draw for the 2000 fixtures took place on 14 November 1999. The championship began on 6 May 2000 and ended on 10 September 2000.
Clonaslee is a village in north County Laois, Ireland, situated in the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains on the R422 Mountmellick to Birr road. Clonaslee is approximately 100 km west of Dublin, and is close to the towns of Portlaoise and Tullamore.
Bernard Francis Cowen was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Minister of State from March 1982 to December 1982. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency from 1969 to 1973 and 1977 to 1984. He was a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 1973 to 1977.
Emo Court, located near the village of Emo in County Laois, Ireland, is a large neo-classical mansion. Architectural features of the building include sash-style windows, pavilions, a balustrade, a hipped roof, and large dome.
The Esker Riada is a system of eskers that stretch across the middle of Ireland, between Dublin and Galway.
Seán Dempsey is an Irish Gaelic football manager, coach, selector and former player. He played at minor, under-21 and senior level for the Laois county team. Dempsey later managed Laois at minor, under-21 and senior level and has been involved with the St Joseph's club, as well as several clubs in other counties.
The Slieve Bloom Way is a long-distance trail around the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Ireland. It is an 70-kilometre (43-mile) long circular route that can be accessed from any of the trailheads at Glenbarrow near the village of Rosenallis, County Laois.Cadamstown, County Offaly Kinnitty, County Offaly. It is typically completed in three days. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is managed by Laois County Council, Offaly County Council, Laois Integrated Development Company, Coillte and the Slieve Bloom Rural Development Society. The route was devised by a local man, Tom Joyce, and opened in 1987. The route was developed as part of the designation of the Slieve Bloom area as a European Environment Park in the European Year of the Environment.
Niall McNamee is an Irish sportsperson. He plays Gaelic football with his local club Rhode and the Offaly county team.
Pippa Hackett is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine since June 2020. She is one of three Ministers of State in attendance at cabinet, but without a vote. She has been a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since November 2019.