Hotel Doolin
Áine Martin, Green Team Leader

Hometree’s purpose is land regeneration, how does this align with your company/organisation?
Hotel Doolin is committed to being a carbon-neutral hotel and protecting the wonderful environment that we work and live in. For every wedding that we host, we make a commitment to plant 10 trees with Hometree, we planted 900 trees in 2019. We started this initiative in 2018 and planted 800 trees that year, that is a total of 1700 trees, offsetting 1700 tonnes of carbon in 2 years.

What is inspiring you to work with a regeneration process like Hometree?
moy hill community farm is very local to Hotel Doolin and it just seemed to be the perfect match to work with an initiative like Hometree. We invite the wedding couples who get married at Hotel Doolin to get involved in the planting and several staff members have gone to the farm and helped with planting too.

Some of the trees you are planting you will not see mature, what are you inviting into the future?
We will not see the trees mature to their full life however we are doing this for the next generation. Planting native trees undoubtedly makes sense. We also admire the chosen keyline planting method that Hometree work with. The wonderful welcome that one feels when visiting Moy Hill farm’s trees is unique. To see people of all different ages taking part in the work there is so special and unique.

Do you have a memory that to share about a tree/forests/nature?
As a child, I remember playing in rich, thick, woodlands across from my home in the Tipperary countryside. I look at these woods today and see how many of the trees have fallen due to recent storms and hurricanes; the likes of which we never saw as children. I also see the woodlands which used to be so rich with trees chopped down and replaced with non-native tree species, therefore, I am always happy to see native trees being planted and welcome working for an organisation like Hometree who are so committed to improving the environment for future generations.

Other than Hometree can you celebrate other ways you or your organisation supports a healthier environment?
The green team at Hotel Doolin aim to reduce, reuse and recycle. We aim to;1) continuously reduce the hotel’s carbon footprint 2) review and improve our involvement with our community 3) increase our social responsibility and purchase locally. Our 3 P’s are People, Planet and Profit. Our green team works on reducing waste, water and energy on a daily basis.

Have there been any key moments that you can share about how you or your organisation decided to support a more abundant and healthier world?
In 2012, the green team was established. The Eco-Barn at Hotel Doolin was completed in March 2018 and is an A-rated, 100% soundproof venue which hosts 90 weddings per year. The Barn has very energy-efficient heating and ventilation system. We abolished the sale of plastic bottles in the hotel. We run 3 festivals per year where we do not use single-use plastic glasses.  We have a 50-foot polytunnel on site where we grow approximately €6000 of our own herbs and vegetables for the bar, restaurant, café and pizzeria. All disposables are compostable. We segregate waste. 70% of the food product is purchased from a 30-mile radius of the hotel. We are very active members of the Burren Ecotourism Network. As part of the Cliffs of Moher and Burren Geopark, we follow a code of practice. We have plans for bee-keeping, we make most of the wedding cakes in-house which equates to saving approximately 6400km of driving per annum. We changed the heating system in the hotel from oil to the air to water heating in 2017. This system maintains an ambient temperature of 21 degrees Celsius. We use green electricity, it is a simple change to move from brown to green. All lights are LED. We aim to continuously reduce water by taking actions such as monitoring shower aerators and putting hippo bags in the toilet cisterns. We harvest rainwater and invested in new grease traps as well as upgrading the waste treatment plan (tertiary treatment system). We give free tea/coffee to cyclists. We give a 10% discount on room rates to anyone who cycles to the hotel. We promote car-pooling or taking public transport to the Cliffs of Moher or any location in general. We have a bike to work scheme for the team. We promote Doolin as a destination e.g Doolin Writers’ Weekend, Doolin Surfest & Doolin Folk Festival. We have raised nearly €60,000 for charity in the last two years. The hotel employs 120 staff, most of whom are from the local area. Hotel Doolin has won Best Medium Sized Organisation of the Year 2018 & 2019 at the Green Awards and won the Tourism & Entertainment Award at the Green Awards in 2015, 2016 & 2017.  Doolin Folk Festival was awarded the A Greener Event Award in London on February 2018.

We’d love to hear and share any key lessons that life has taught you, in as little or man words as you like.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
― Chinese proverb