CATCHMENTS 2025
The Boats
Mayfly and Eco Showboat
There are seven bodies of water that they are planning to study in CATCHMENTS 2025:
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•The Liffey Head Bog in County Wicklow
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•The Dodder River in South Dublin County
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•The Boyne River in County Meath
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•Lough Muckno in County Monaghan
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•The ‘old’ River Shannon at University of Limerick
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•The Ballymacraven River at Ennistymon, Co. Clare
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•The Lee Fields by the Weir and the Old Cork Waterworks in Cork City
CATCHMENTS 2025 - kindly supported by a Research Ireland Discover Award, by Creative Ireland, by the Department of Education, by the UCD Earth Institute and by seven local authorities - will be a countrywide creative community project that aims to mobilise “Citizen Art” as a complement to "Citizen Science", the two contributing to society’s growing concern for the environment and reflecting the need for an understanding of the world that is driven by both data and empathy, nurturing both artistic creativity and scientific curiosity.
CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland* Discover Award, Creative Ireland, The Department of Education, seven county council arts offices and the UCD Earth Institute.
*Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland is the new national research and innovation funding agency, established on the 1st August 2024 through the amalgamation of the activities and functions of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).
CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, an all-of-government five-year initiative, from 2023 to 2027, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Further information from creativeireland.gov.ie.
Following their Eco Showboat voyage in 2022-2023, artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly aka School of Looking, are leaving the boat behind in 2025 to explore freshwater environments beyond the navigable waterways and to help increase awareness and understanding of fresh water biodiversity across the island.
Anne Cleary with Anthony Murphy on the site of Linn Féic at Rossnaree, during filming of ‘The Bend on the Boyne’, 12 May 2025
