AN undoubted highlight for me, not just of the last week but of the year, was a Courtesy Call on September 18th to Áras an Uachtaráin to present President Michael D. Higgins with a copy of ‘The Lie of the Land’. After the photos, introductions and formalities, we sat down for coffee and conversation for nearly a full hour.
President Higgins receives John Gibbons who presented a copy of his book “The Lie of the Land” , a game plan for Ireland’s the Climate crisis…….. Pic Tony Maxwell 18-9-25
President Higgins is extremely well versed in climate and environmental issues, and came armed with a heavily dog-eared copy of my book, which he had clearly read in full, and questioned me closely on many of the points it covered, especially around agriculture and food policy. The conversation ranged widely, to include the history and evolution of agriculture in Ireland and globally since the mid-19th century, and the role and impacts of industrial farming in particular.
I was accompanied on the morning by my daughters, who too were delighted at the unique opportunity both to visit the Áras and also to meet the head of State just weeks before the end of what has been a highly consequential 14-year stay.
Later that day, I joined Matt Cooper in studio for my weekly Last Word on the Environment, which he introduced by noting that the official account of the President of Ireland had tweeted out details of our meeting, including the above picture. Earlier that week I got confirmation that the book had reached No. 3 in the national non-fiction bestseller list, a rise of six places since its first week of launch.
Early last week, The Currency published an extremely positive review of The Lie of the Land. “As much as the book is a devastating critique of what Gibbons calls “dishonest discourse” from agribusiness lobby groups and in the media, the book also offers an unsparing review of the role of policymakers in bringing Ireland to its climate-vulnerable position”, Niall Sargent wrote.
And on Saturday last, I was beyond delighted to read an effusive in-depth review of The Lie of the Land in the Irish Examiner by Jack Power, headed ‘Greed and duplicity pollutes our politics and environment’. The book, he wrote, was the first he had read in the last 27 years that “kept me awake at night”. The review of what Power called “this shocking book” concluded as follows: “John Gibbons has indeed done the State and generations as yet unborn some service”.
A very positive note indeed on which to conclude what had for me been an extraordinary week. The recording of The Last Word on the Environment as mentioned here is linked below:
