Environmental attitudes, community development, and local politics in Ireland

Anyone who has ever visited Ireland will be immediately struck by the natural beauty of the country. From the rugged uplands of the west, the golden beaches of Cork and Kerry, the rolling drumlins of the midlands to the sea cliffs of the north, Ireland is undoubtedly blessed with one of the richest and most diverse environmental endowments in Europe. Attracted by tourist brochures and advertisements which play heavily on images of Ireland as a rural paradise, tourists flock to the country each summer in their hundreds of thousands, hoping to discover the pristine, unspoiled countryside promised by the government’s