Who We Are

What began in the 1980s as a modest 2,000 hectares of scenic mountains, bogs, heaths, grasslands, and woodlands in County Galway has since evolved into Ireland’s largest, most biodiverse, and most accessible national park — now spanning over 1000 square kilometres.

Opened to the public in 1980, the original parklands once formed part of the Kylemore Abbey Estate, the Letterfrack Industrial School, and even the private property of Richard “Humanity Dick” Martin, an early champion of animal welfare who helped establish the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That foundation has grown into a national treasure of restored ecosystems and renewed ambition.

Today, Connemara National Park is more than a preserved, largely isolated landscape — it is a living project of restoration and reconnection. The vast forests of old have returned, bogs are alive again, rivers run clearer, and the wild mountains continue to shape the horizon. Our mission is to bring the Ireland of old back into being, not as a memory but as a living reality where people and nature exist side by side. We believe, Connemara National Park, is the most ambitious national park in the world.

We aim to honour the land by reconnecting both the local community and the people of Ireland with the natural world, instilling a renewed sense of respect, belonging, and guardianship. Connemara National Park is not only a place to visit, but a vision of what Ireland’s future can be when people and nature thrive together.