Randal Plunkett 'Lord Dunsany and the Rewilding of his 1700 acre estate'

Welcome to Bringing Design Closer, the podcast focussed on discussing Designs role in tackling  complex societal issues. Our goal is to have conversations that inspire and to help move the dial forward for organisations to become more human-centred in their approach to solving complex business and societal problems.

In this episode we welcome Randal Plunkett who is also Lord Dunsany of Dunsany land in Meath, an area 50 miles north west of Dublin City in Ireland. Randal’s family are deeply entrenched in my upbringing - as a great great great great great great uncle of Randals was Oliver Plunkett, who was brutally murdered by Oliver Cromwell in 1681 and who’s head is still on display in the town where I grew up, Drogheda. Randal is one of the last blood lines of Oliver Plunkett - so it’s been fantastic to connect and hear stories about his up bringing.

I recently spotted an interview with Randal in The Guardian newspaper in the UK where he was interviewed about one of the largest Rewilding projects that I had heard of - which is part of his 1700 acre estate. 

In the conversation we speak about what led Randal to take the leap into Rewilding, how it was perceived amongst his family and community and mostly importantly, what happened to the land as the years went by.  We speak about the darker side of life as a Lord, who is responsible for not only maintaining an estate - but protecting it for future generations both from environmental damage and decay but also from human damage of the land and hunters who come to prey on the animals who have returned to the Dunsany Estate and Reserve.

It’s a good one - let’s jump in...

• Dunsany Nature Reserve
  https://www.facebook.com/dunsanynaturereserve-10511170787794
• Randal Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/randal_plunkett
• Dunsany  Nature Reserve Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dunsanynaturereserve/
• Twitter
  https://twitter.com/RandalPlunkett
• Trailer
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9hbXEoGZw8&t=8s
• Watch The Green Sea on Youtube
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNg3ISYG5Jk&t=3899s
• Watch it on Google Play
  https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Green_Sea?id=Tl-gd0TBoNs.P&hl=en&gl=US