Media, Speaking &
Public Engagement

Peter Dowdall is an Irish horticulturist, broadcaster and writer with more than thirty years of professional horticultural experience and almost three decades of national broadcasting.

He is available as a keynote speaker, conference panellist, moderator, media commentator, campaign spokesperson and broadcast contributor on horticulture, biodiversity, urban greening, climate resilience, food growing, health and wellbeing, and placemaking.

His current media work includes RTÉ Today, C103, national radio, RSVP Magazine and Reach Media's titles across Ireland and the UK. Alongside this, he speaks regularly at horticultural events including Bloom, and at corporate and conference events beyond the horticultural sector.

For most of his career, Peter's authority has come from mainstream horticulture. In recent years that expertise has extended into a wider argument, developed through his platform Beyond Gardens and his wider speaking and broadcasting work, about the part gardens, planting and green space play in society. His writing and speaking now explore how horticulture connects to biodiversity, urban greening, climate resilience, health and wellbeing, food growing, placemaking and community development, grounded in the same practical, decades-long horticultural expertise that built his mainstream reputation, not a departure from it.

Credible commentary and campaign involvement

Peter currently contributes to RTÉ Today, C103, national radio, RSVP Magazine and Reach Media's titles, alongside ongoing broadcast and print work. He works with media, event organisers, PR agencies, brands and organisations in Ireland and the UK.

That current work sits on top of a broader media career spanning almost three decades of national television and radio, including thirteen years as the Irish Examiner's weekly gardening columnist and earlier television work with Virgin Media. That experience, built well before Beyond Gardens, is the foundation his wider commentary now draws on.

For PR and communications agencies, Peter brings credible, on-camera and in-print expertise to subjects that are increasingly difficult to communicate convincingly: biodiversity, urban greening, climate resilience, food growing, health and wellbeing, and the wider role of horticulture in society. His involvement is grounded in genuine horticultural knowledge rather than a borrowed media presence.

He is available for:

• -Features and opinion pieces
• -Editorial comment and expert quotes
• -Campaign spokesperson work grounded in real horticultural expertise
• -Interviews across print, broadcast and digital

The societal role of horticulture

Peter speaks on why gardens, planting and food growing should be understood as social, environmental and health infrastructure, rather than simply a leisure activity or retail category. His talks and panel contributions combine three decades of practical horticultural expertise with evidence drawn from relevant fields such as public health and ecology, and the communication experience to make that material accessible to audiences who don't come from a horticultural background, including those working in public health, education, climate and community development.

He is a regular speaker at horticultural events and garden festivals including Bloom, and increasingly at corporate and conference events outside the horticultural sector throughout Ireland.

Themes available for keynotes, panels and moderated conversations include:

• -The Horticulture Multiplier Effect: how one intervention creates value across multiple budgets
• -Beyond Gardens: horticulture as social and health infrastructure
• -Growing Healthier Places: gardens, streets, schools and public space
• -The future role of horticulture in health, food, climate and community