Keel, Achill, is home to one of Europe’s rarest coastal habitats the Machair grasslands  right beside a Blue Flag beach. Every summer, this living ecosystem is being burned, trampled, and polluted by unregulated wild camping, open fires, and dumping.

The Machair is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under European law. It should be one of Ireland’s most protected landscapes. Instead, it is treated like a free-for-all campsite, with no warden, no signage, no enforcement, and no plan to stop the destruction.

Locals have been raising the alarm for years. Authorities have promised a Visitor Management Plan yet nothing has changed. A recent video showing the damage has been viewed over 122,000 times, sparking outrage nationwide.

This is not an occasional nuisance. It is an ongoing, predictable pattern of environmental damage that is robbing future generations of their heritage. Protected on paper, burned in reality.

We, the undersigned, call on Mayo County Council, Fáilte Ireland, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to take immediate action:

Ban wild camping in sensitive areas of Keel

Enforce existing bans on fires and dumping

Install clear, permanent signage marking the Machair as a protected habitat

Fund a seasonal warden during peak months

Deliver the long-promised Visitor Management Plan without delay

If action is not taken now, this rare habitat will be permanently scarred. As the old Native American proverb says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

John Healy, who had strong ties to Achill, titled his famous book “No One Shouted Stop”.Decades later, no one is shouting stop now either as fires burn on protected ground, as rubbish piles up, and as this precious place is slowly erased.

If we stand by, the Machair will be gone, replaced by scorched patches of blackened soil, drifting sand where grass once grew, and a coastline stripped of life. That is all we will have to hand to our children.

⚠️ Important: Signing this petition is completely free. After you sign, Change.org may show you a page asking for a donation but that is optional. You do not need to donate for your signature to count.