Éanna Ní Lamhna

The Southeastern Technological University had invited them in.

And there they were in front of me, holding on to my every word.

Yes, indeed, I have been in this game a long time.

And biodiversity, which is, of course, the great variety of

plants and animals and the great variety of habitats where they live.

That's what biodiversity is.

It's exceedingly important.

Now, I'm in the game a long time and I remember in the 1970s when I was starting out in this, we had twice as much biodiversity as we have now.

That doesn't mean that we've actually lost half our species.

It just means the amount of things have gone down.

We have fewer and fewer corn quakes.

We have fewer and fewer curlews.

Our habitats have changed because of the way we use our land.

And as a result, we have polluted more of our waters.

We have removed the resilience of our bogs.

And this is why it's very, very bad if the biodiversity decreases, because the places where they live has become unable to support them any longer.

So by looking after our habitats, by making them

in a condition that more and more animals and plants can live there, it's making the whole area where we live, our whole environment, a much more healthy place for our plants and animals and as a consequence for ourselves as well.

I know.

I mean, there's 40 years learning.