The Belfast mountaineer and architect, Mr Dawson Stelfox, who was the first Irishman to climb Mount Everest, has been appointed to the wildlife committee of the Heritage Council, writes Lorna Siggins. Mr Leo Hallissey, the Connemara teacher and community activist, has also been invited to serve on the committee.
Mr Stelfox, an architect specialising in conservation, is a qualified mountain guide and former chairman of the Mountaineering Council of Ireland. He led the successful Irish team to Mount Everest in 1993 and recently called for a national strategy to conserve Ireland's landscape.
The Heritage Council, which was appointed by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, has already expressed concern about the destruction of the wildlife habitat. Ireland is in serious breach of European law by failing to incorporate the EU Habitats Directive into Irish law, the council said last month.
The council members on the committee are Dr Jimmy Duane (chairperson), of UCG Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington and Prof Emer Colleran, also of UCG Dr Michael Conry, of Teagnsc Ms Ruth Delany, Inland Waterways Association and Mr Jim Reynolds, the horticulturist.