So last week was my birthday - and my first birthday post autism diagnosis, so for that reason, it felt somewhat like a bit of a milestone. I did contemplate doing something social, like planning a lunch with a friend but in the end, I decided to do just what I enjoy most, and spend the day alone. I love being out with my camera and it's always a joy to discover new places to visit. Heywood Gardens in Laois had been on my radar for a while but I just hadn't managed to get there, however last Tuesday I finally got to visit and it was such a beautiful place, it made my day just perfect.

I drove cross country, avoiding motorways because a) I hate them and b) I really enjoy discovering little places en route to my destination, seeing the views and noting interesting place names - one of which on the day was 'The Swan', a village in county Laois. What a fabulous name for a place, imagine being able to say 'I'm from the Swan'? :)

Heywood gardens is just off the road and has a large stone wall by the carpark and is well signposted so easy enough to find.  There is plenty of parking and toilets by the carpark.

Heywood Gardens, named after the house, which is now sadly gone, were created by Frederick Trench in the late 1700s (source: Laois Heritage). There is a park and the formal gardens which were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the early 1900s. Lutyens frequently worked with Gertrude Jekyll, who was a horticulurist and garden designer and his other notable work in Ireland is the Irish War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge in Dublin. 

I was a bit pressed for time and also was so impatient to start my journey that I didn't bring any food, so my stay wasn't as long as it could have been, but I still had a good look around and loved the formal gardens as well as the beautiful vista and trees.  I do recommend that you bring a picnic as there is no café on site. There is a farmshop nearby which had a sign for scones and coffee but I didn't check it out. Abbeyleix is also not too far away so that's another alternative for food, but the gardens are a lovely picnic spot and I only wish I had brought one with me!

The gardens also have follies which are really interesting - there is a sham castle, as well as a gothic ruin and it's thought that the window of this structure was taken from the ruins of nearby Aghaboe Abbey. Follies are architectural features which are just placed for whimsy and interest and the follies at Heywood were built as ruins and never intended to be completed.

I went onwards and passed the Orangery which had a functional purpose similar to greenhouses. Orangeries were a feature of grand houses and were popular in the 17th century.  Unlike the follies, this was properly constructed and used and the style is really eye-catching.  I think this was my favourite building in the gardens.

Butterfly with closed wings

Colourful Butterfly

Swan on the Lake

Bathing House Sign

I quite like the idea of 'an invigorating bath for medicinal purposes':)
All in all, the gardens appealed to me so much. It's such a wide open space, yet with the delicate features of formal gardens that are bright with colour at this time of year. It was also really nice to see that nature was just allowed to be free in certain spaces.
Another spot to visit that isn't too far away is Leap Castle in Offaly and you can read all about it in a recent blog post here - https://www.puritybelle.com/2022/04/MedievalTipperaryTour.html

 It was hard to put a title on this one because it's really just a collection of random thoughts but I wanted to talk about my Master's in Climate Change, Policy, Media and Society in DCU. I submitted my final dissertation last Thursday and it brought an end to a whole wonderful period of my life. For anyone interested in learning more about climate change within a whole of society perspective, I could not recommend this course more. It really solidified the science of climate change in my head but also gave such a wide perspective in a number of areas - I have to say that I found the communications and media modules the most enjoyable, mainly because they were a little bit more creative, but I also loved the policy module and have become really interested in policy change as a result.  For what is described as a 'wicked' problem, I often feel that the messaging out there on climate change can become very siloed and centred on small narratives, like (for example) plastic use or electric vehicles.  And for those who are trying to just get by, these discussions can seem irrelevant to day to day life, or worse still, they can be alienating when they are not put in the context of social equality and accessibility.

The course really solidified for me a lot of things that I instinctively believed or felt, but that perhaps were not well articulated in my head. We had so many wonderful engaging lecturers and were introduced to a wealth of literature in different areas that has increased my knowledge immeasurably.  It also gave me the opportunity to chat to wonderful classmates who are as passionate about climate action as I am and I learnt so much from their creativity and perspectives. 

Even though I felt huge pressure trying to finish my thesis and thought I would feel only relief when it went in, I actually had very mixed feelings. Yes, there was relief, but also a lot of sadness as it felt like a goodbye, or the end of an era which I had enjoyed so much.  I think also it was partly my neurodivergent need to always have a focus.  I don't do well when I'm untethered as my brain is constantly in overdrive and I need to direct that energy in a good way, or else it can become inward facing and I feel down and deflated.  Another wonderful thing about the Master's, for me, was that I always felt I hadn't lived up to my potential in my undergrad degree.  Knowing what I know now about my autism and adhd, I've been able to look back on that period with a different lens, and understand that my executive dysfunction and struggles with time and organisation were probably a huge factor in this underperformance. So doing the Master's as an older person with better tools to deal with things, and the huge benefit of technology and phone reminders/calendars etc. allowed me another opportunity to do my best. I did put a massive amount of work in and for anyone thinking of doing the course, do be prepared for some serious work but it's so worth it.

In relation to looking at things through a new lens, my diagnosis has reframed pretty much every single thing about my life and learning about autistic masking has made so much sense of everything for me. I've seen other autistic people speaking about getting a diagnosis and how they seem to become 'more autistic'.  I've been thinking about that and I think this is true for me also. Having spent my whole life trying to squeeze myself into the predominant neurotyple model, I'm finding more and more, post diagnosis, that I've developed a huge resistance to masking and trying to appear 'normal' and saying the right thing.  For those who know me, this may manifest as me being rude or more direct, or saying no to social invites. It's not something I'm doing consistently as I do still very much feel a pull towards that habitual people pleasing, but for my own sake, and because I am now aware that my particular autistic perspective is not 'wrong', I am trying to be truer to myself and minimise autistic meltdowns and burnout.  Autistic meltdowns are really debilitating and it takes some time to recover from them. For me, the meltdown manifests as a huge sense of physical discomfort and irritation, almost like my body is humming out of harmony.  I feel completely exhausted and unable to deal with regular self-care activities and feel a huge sense of mental overwhelm and depression.  What helps me is to be quiet in a calm space and have time to myself to recalibrate, but ideally avoiding them is the better path and that's the thing that I'm trying to get better at.

I have to give a shoutout also to Neuro Pride Ireland who are such a lovely bunch of people and are doing amazing work advocating for all the neurodivergent people out there.  They also have a Facebook group you can join for chats and support and have organised a Neuro Pride festival. Unfortunately because I was so exhaused after getting thesis in, I missed a lot of it but I'm hoping to get to a group chat later.  Being part of a neurodivergent community is really important to me and having conversations with other autistic people has such a differnt energy that I really enjoy. Plus there is a huge empathy for other people's needs and limitations and a very non-judgemental ethos which is just so refreshing and comfortable!

In the vein of always needing a focus, I've been accepted on a new course for September.  It's the level 9 Certificate in Global Citizenship Education in Maynooth and I'm really looking forward to that. It really ties in with all my beliefs and the topics that I am interested in, and looks at global systems, colonisation, climate justice, anti-racism and lots of other fascinating topics. So I will undoubtedly be getting some new blog posts out of that! :)

I took a little break this morning and went to June Blake's garden in Wicklow - the pictures in this post are all from there and it's still a lovely time of year to visit if you haven't been there.  The flowers look spectacular.

 To be honest, this is going to be a bit of a rambly post and I'm not sure the title captures fully what I am trying to say but that's the joy of writing a blog that is really just a vehicle for me to express my thoughts. I have been doing Sustainable Development Goals training with Development Perspectives and I'm just back from weekend training. I had to leave early and I'll go into that further but I took a lot away from my time there, as well as meeting wonderful passionate people who are all trying to change the world in some way.  We began on Saturday with a long walk in the pouring rain, chatting and exploring topics.  What I enjoy most about the training is all the questions it poses, allowing for deep discussing and exploration.  I think many of us who are in an activism space feel that there are deep inequalities and flawed systems making up the framework of our existence.  And it's this perspective that I wanted to talk about a little.

Whilst doing my thesis, which is based on public participation on climate change I've been researching forms of participation and the idea of citizen engagement.  Without going into all the complexities, one of of the key points that I've garnered to date is that genuine participation requires dialogue.  And this is where that part of my life connects with the SDG training. True dialogue is a combination of listening and contributing - it's a two way 'living' process and Paulo Freire highlights this in his 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed':
'To deny the importance of subjectivity in the process of transforming the world and history is naïve and simplistic.  It is to admit the impossible: a world without people.'

There is a lot of academic research available on discourse and dialogue and scientific analysis of how the different strands are broken down and whilst I've read a lot of this theory, what I wanted to explore was my own experience of dialogue and how, in celebrating our own humanity, we open ourselves to greater engagement and a better existence.  We also looked at Joseph Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' and the idea of a call to adventure and the foes we might encounter along the way. Apart from personal impediments to change (and it's important to recognise that we arene't always in an emotional space to be able to embark upon change), the foes I see all around me are archaic systems and beliefs that are designed to dehumanise and segregate.  Our capitalist economic system is one of those and the notion of 'trickle down economics', despite all evidence showing that it does not work, is still used as a placebo to ensure compliance with the greater system. Tied into that are social hierarachies and bias, both external and internal.  This is where my own personal experiences come into play as previous discussion within the SDG group really made me take a good look at my own unconscious biases - and despite my being aware and open to change, there is no doubt that we all have these biases because we are situated within systems and frames that create our whole identity.  Learning that I was autistic has shifted a lot of things in my life and although the diagnosis is very new, I have been autistic all my life. One of the characteristics of my autism is my ability to see things differently to those who are not neurodivergent and I see concepts and ideas and problems in a very holistic visual way. It's quite hard to describe but this idea was the topic of a book by Temple Grandin, a scientist and autistic woman, called 'Seeing in Pictures'.  This is very much tied to all that I have mentioned previously as my brain makes all the connections between complex concepts and brings a clarity which can feel almost joyful at times.

And that, I suppose, is one of the points I wanted to make. A lot of how we live breaks our existence down into little boxes or silos. For example, there is the notion that we have to be a different person in work and have a 'professional' approach, as if somehow life outside work has a different set of values. Connected to that is the idea of professional dresscodes (mainly stemming from patriarchal values) and the perception that someone who isn't 'appropriately' attired is somehow less capable or talented.  This is one of those biases that we probably all have, even without realising it, because it has been so indocitrinated in us. We disconnect our humanity from our actions as if our home and family life and our own feelings are a separate thing to our politics or activism or work.  Learning about autism and the idea of autistic masking has been very enlightening for me in this regard. Many women remain undiagnosed because we are good at masking or covering up our autistic traits and for me, trying to unravel that and advocate for myself to make the world a more comfortable space for me, has also given me an insight into the dichotomies that are all around us. As a mentioned previously, I had to leave the training early and the reason for this was autistic overwhelm. I need a lot of alone time and being around people and masking to fit in can be extremely exhausting for me. Without the space to be completely alone, I couldn't rebalance and in previous times might have just blamed myself and felt horrendous for a week afterwards. I have decided though, that I need to learn to accept myself as I am and if I can't always do things the way other people do, that it's ok.  It might seem like a simple concept but unlearning years of guilt at being different is not an easy task so I'm quite proud of myself that I did put myself first in this instance.

To round up my ramblings, I think that genuine dialogue and learning is the only means of change and it's not a simplistic thing as we do have biases and preconceptions and live within systems that are toxic a lot of the time. But that separation from love and humanity has created such a discordant hum in the world around us and we need to change that by trying as individuals to advocate for a better path and to show understanding and awareness of those around us.  I'm very grateful to have access to learning and to be able to engage with people who are caring and committed and it's this that gives me hope for change.

There are a lot of topics around autism that I want to discuss so undoubtedly there will be more blog posts but for now I'm just absorbing the news and enjoying a feeling of liberation and happiness that I can be more fully myself.

This post was originally an academic assignment but as I worked my way through it, I became very convinced that implementing ecocide as a crime within the Rome Statute has the potential to be a key tool in how we view the natural world around us and enabling a shift from our anthropocentric world view.

It is proposed to add ecocide law to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as a 5th Crime. Whilst there are some arguments against this as an effective measure to tackle ecocide, it is an action that is likely to raise global awareness of environmental damage and its consequences on the human population. It will act as a stronger deterrent for those undertaking environmental works and it will ensure that those countries who are signatories to the Rome Treaty must then embed ecocide law into their own national laws.

Ecocide Law: The Background.

The term and concept of ecocide originated with the Vietnam War and the use of ‘Agent Orange’ and other herbicides. The function of these agents was to reveal enemy combatants by deforestation of cover and also to deplete food supplies of the enemy. According to Olson and Morton (2019), ‘the strategy had intended and unintended consequences on South Vietnam soils and sediments, agricultural and forested landscapes, civilian populations, and US, South, and North Vietnamese military personnel.’ The ‘intended and unintended consequences’ is a key point in the background to the definition of ecocide as it was originally coined as a term in the context of war, rather than a definition of environmental destruction that stood alone. Much of the thinking at the time justified environmental destruction as part of military necessity and the Vietnam War was not an isolated incident in terms of large scale environmental damage inflicted as part of a military strategy. The term itself is attributed to Dr. Arthur W. Galston who was instrumental in the discovery of the defoliant properties of 2,4,5-T, one of the main components of Agent Orange (Hough, 2016) and in 1970, at the Conference on War and National Responsibility’, Galston suggested a ban on ecocide. The term was then used by Arthur Westing, one of the main academic critics of the U.S. policy in Vietnam and in 1972, at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the Swedish Prime Minister, Olaf Palme, also used the term in his criticism of the defoliation programme (Hough, 2016).

Ecocide and Climate Change.

Ecocide and climate change are interconnected in many ways. The scientific consensus is that the warming of our planet has been caused by human activity and that we need to work towards warming of not greater than 2 degrees in order to avoid the most damaging effects of climate change. The most recent IPCC Report ‘recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies’ (IPCC, 2022). Fossil fuel extraction, for example is not only at the root of carbon emissions, but also plays a part in the decimation of ecosystems. For example, ‘the Athabasca ‘tar sands’ stands as an example of the artificial division and fragmentation of the local ecosystem in an attempt to extract oil with no regard for the anti-ecological effects this unnatural throughput and transfer of energy and materials has on the local environment and, critically, the local population’ (Crook and Short, 2014). With greater knowledge of some of the negative effects of industrial activity on human populations, and the consequences of extreme weather events which are correlated to climate change, an awareness of climate justice has also developed. Activities such as fossil fuel extraction have had an adverse effect on indigenous communities around the world. ‘As a result of colonialism, many of the traditional adaptation practices that allowed indigenous communities to endure environmental changes are no longer possible’ (Norton-Smith et al., 2016).

In the context of climate justice, and with regard to the health and safety of populations around the globe, protecting our valuable ecosystems plays a key role in climate mitigation. With regard to climate adaptation, a recognition of ecocide as a legal policy instrument may also offer a protection against maladaptation which is defined as ‘action taken ostensibly to avoid or reduce vulnerability to climate change that impacts adversely on, or increases the vulnerability of other systems, sectors or social groups’ (Barnett and O’Neill, 2010).

The adaptive capacities of indigenous peoples is both an ecological and a climate justice issue. The role of ecocide in diminishing adaptive capabilities is significant and there are instances where climate adaptation efforts are creating ecological problems and furthering climate injustice. An example is wind energy development in the Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca, Mexico, which was the subject of a study by Dunlap, (2018). Dunlap relayed that, according to those interviewed, land use changes ‘altered agricultural and livestock patterns, but necessitated the clearing of animal habitat, compacting of soil for roads, loss of birds, transforming the ground water into concrete for wind turbine foundations and, finally, leaking oil into the ground, which people claimed contaminated both the ground water and animals’.

The evolution of ecocide law.

So how did the proposal to implement ecocide law at the International Criminal Court evolve?

Although the movement to add ecocide to the Rome Statute has been growing since 2010, when Polly Higgins, an English Barrister, presented a definition to the UN Law Commission (Stop Ecocide International), ecocide was, in fact, on the agenda in much earlier years. According to Mehta and Merz, (2015), ‘three options were discussed to incorporate ecocide into the draft Code of Offences against the Peace and Security of Mankind, precursor to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, as a stand-alone crime, included under Crimes against Humanity or under War Crimes’. The crime of ecocide, however, was not included at that time, the reasons being unclear although it may have been political expediency. There was a suggestion from Christian Tomuschat, ‘Rapporteur of the working group on environmental crime’, that nuclear arms may have played a part in the final decision (Mehta and Merz, 2015). Despite this original outcome, there has been a growing body of work and activity around the campaign to have ecocide included in the Rome Statute.

In 2016, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC issued a policy paper which seemed to open the door for a closer examination of ecocide law. Under Case Selection Criteria 5 (41) it is outlined that 
‘the Office will give particular consideration to prosecuting Rome Statute crimes that are committed by means of, or that result in, inter alia, the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land’ (The Office of the Prosecutor, 2016). It should be noted that although there is provision for damage to the environment in a military context, Pereira, (2020), remarks that ‘even though serious environmental damage often accompanies armed conflicts and there is a well-established international legal framework governing environmental damage in armed conflicts, so far there have been very few prosecutions for environmental damage since the Second World War’. However, the 2016 policy paper recognises that environmental damage can be a prosecutable offense.

In November 2020, the Stop Ecocide Foundation convened an Independent Expert Panel. This was an opportunity for wide ranging consultation with multiple stakeholders and for gathering input from experts. As Jojo Mehta outlined ‘the resulting definition is well pitched between what needs to be done concretely to protect ecosystems and what will be acceptable to states’ (Stop Ecocide International). See figure 1 below for the proposed amendments that were agreed by the expert panel.

In June 2021, the Expert Panel concluded its work and in December 2021, the Foundation presented a statement to the 20th Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

 

Limitations of adding ecocide as a 5th Crime.

(I) Whilst adding ecocide to the Rome Statute is likely to be a step forward in tackling widespread intentional environmental damage, it must be recognised that there are some limitations. Firstly, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has 123 signatories but there are significant absences, like the United States, China and India wherein reside some of the world’s largest multinational corporations (Phillips, 2021).

(II) The ‘principle of complementarity’ governs the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This means that the Court will only prosecute crimes which are not being addressed by the States themselves. According to a report by the ICC ‘The ICC may only exercise jurisdiction where national legal systems fail to do so, including where they purport to act but in reality are unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out proceedings’ (International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor, 2003). This could result in long delays to prosecution of ecocide, as the intent of ecocide would need to be established, as well as assigning responsibility for the crime. The possibility of moral conflict could also arise in the impetus of states to prosecute ecocide, in the event of there being an economic gain to citizens in the implementation of industrial activity which has an environmental impact.

(III) There is a possibility that it may be superfluous to other environmental protection.
Instruments which are already in place, in the form of international treaties and national law.

(IV) ‘The ICC only has jurisdiction over natural persons’ (Phillips, 2021), which means that individuals will be prosecuted rather than corporate entities - is this an overreach in terms of individual responsibility for ecocide on a widespread scale?

(V) The complexity of ecosystems and the environmental damage caused to them may be difficult to correlate to particular industrial activity at a particular point in time. Whilst the immediate environmental impacts may be obvious, longer term consequences on land, water and living species can only be estimated and therefore, it could potentially create ambiguity around intent to cause widespread harm.

However, despite the limitations outlined above, the case for implementing ecocide as part of the Rome Statue is strong and likely to influence behaviour and attitudinal change around environmental damage. Outlined below are the main points in favour of implementation.

The case for implementation.

(I) The acceptance of its addition as a 5th crime by signatories of the Rome Treaty may signify a cultural change in terms of how we deal with environmental damage. The anthropocentric weighting of the Rome Treaty would benefit from an addition of ecocide and a recognition, that in this time of climate crisis, a fundamental change in treatment of the natural environment is key to addressing climate impacts.

(II) The authority of the ICC is widely recognised and likely to influence legal policy globally. The addition of an ecocide law at this level may add an increased gravity to prosecution of environmental crimes around the world. Furthermore, given that legal instruments can influence policy making, this is likely to be a significant instrument in terms of future policy making.

(III) It is a symbolic and practical shift from the current anthropocentric world view to a different societal paradigm where planetary and human needs are better balanced. Given that human systems have led to climate breakdown and have shown themselves to be ill equipped to tackle climate change in a timely manner, it is important that changing needs begin to be embedded in law and policy.

(IV) The definition of environment as outlined in Figure 1 above is ‘the earth, its biosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, as well as outer space’. This comprehensive definition could potentially be significant in terms of future carbon removal technologies which might possibly create unknown impacts.

(V) The limitations of dealing with environmental crime within the Rome Statute as it currently is, could be addressed by adding the crime of ecocide. Although the Statute recognises environmental destruction, this is within the context of military operations and the consequences thereof. It can be argued that environmental crime is an issue within itself, outside of war time and that the human consequences are so significant that it merits its own addition, particularly in order to tackle environmental damage which is contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss.

In conclusion, there is a strong case for adding ecocide as a crime to the Rome Statute. According to Stop Ecocide International, ecocide ‘is a root cause of the climate and ecological emergency that we now face’. The act of making this a crime, rather than simply a matter of civil suits, is likely to be a deterrent for corporations who are answerable to their shareholders. Some of the potential crimes of ecocide are those that might result from the actions of fossil fuel companies, such as fracking and other extractive processes. The process of implementation requires that an amendment is proposed by one of the signatory countries to the Rome Treaty. A majority vote is then required to approve and enact the amendment. This process in itself would be a clear signal that ecocide is to be seriously considered and once ratified, ecocide must be implemented in each of the ratifying countries (Stop Ecocide International).

Under laws of international jurisdiction, even though there are countries who are not signatories, citizens of those countries may still be prosecuted within the ratifying countries if the crime of ecocide is committed on their soil. This means that the opportunity to cause environmental harm will be more restricted and that the consequences of embarking on damaging projects will need to be seriously considered. In short, implementation of ecocide will give a clear and unequivocal message to potential polluters that there will be consequences and potentially criminal prosecution if environmental damage is likely to occur and there is an awareness of same, as a result of industrial projects. In conclusion, implementing an ecocide law is likely to play an important part in tackling climate change.

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There's something so great about a road trip where you can go anywhere and take your time. I did a recent road trip to Tipperary with my friend Sue, heading cross country from Kilcullen.  We went via Athy and Abbeyleix, on to Aghaboe Abbey and then to Leap Castle in Offaly.  On day 2 we covered the Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle and the walled town of Fetherd.

Aghaboe Abbey was founded in the 6th century by St. Canice. It was burned in 1234 but then rebuilt as an Augustinian priory. As you can see from the pictures, it was a pretty wet day so we didn't tarry long but the building is an impressive structure and it was well worth seeing.

 

Leap Castle was next on the list and we almost couldn't find it - there's a little sign at the gate but it's hard to see the actual castle from the road so we weren't sure we were in the right spot. However we drove through the gate, past the little lodge and then the castle could be seen.  It's a beautiful building and has a fascinating history, as well as supposedly being one of the most haunted places in Ireland!  I certainly didn't feel any bad spirits in the castle but I did make the acquaintance of a very fluffy and snuggly cat who was happy to sit in my arms as I looked around.  We were brought into the castle by the owner, Sean Ryan and he told us a little bit of the history, as well as the fact that he lives companionably with the castle spirits.  It's an amazing eclectic place and an impressive structure which has been lovingly restored by Sean (the previous owner also did extensive restoration). According to Wikipedia, workers found an oubliette behind a wall in the chapel and at the bottom were numerous skeletons.  As the tale goes, it took 3 cartloads to remove the bones - they were bloodthirsty times indeed.

Onward we went, stopping in Roscrea for lunch.  Roscrea Castle and Damer House, which is beside it, are currently undergoing works so there wasn't internal access but they are beautiful buildings. Damer House is a gorgeous example of Palladian architecture - we read on the information board in the town that the building fell into disuse and there were plans to turn the location into a leisure centre and car park.  Thankfully the Irish Georgian Society came to the rescue.  It's astonishing to think how we have let so many of our cultural and historical buildings be neglected and undervalued.

There's a little park beside the castle which looks like a lovely spot for a break and picnic lunch but we went to a pub near the castle and had food there.

You might think after the Rock of Cashel, that Cahir Castle wouldn't quite match up, but actually it was every bit as enjoyable. Cahir itself is a gorgeous town and we parked in the car park right by the castle and were greeted by lots of geese which was novel :) As with the Rock of Cashel, the Castle here really dominates the town. There's also a really nice park right beside it. It has been used a few times for a film location and was actually the location for Gawain and the Green Knight which we had watched not too long ago.