An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland – a non-governmental organisation (NGO) active in the areas of the environment and built heritage in the Republic of Ireland, is established on June 28, 1948. It considers itself the oldest environmental and non-governmental organisation in the Republic of Ireland. Naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger is its first president.

An Taisce is a membership organisation and charity, not a state or semi-state organisation. However, it receives government funding for specific programmes, such as Blue Flag beaches, Green Schools and the annual National Spring Clean, and it has a statutory role in certain planning and environmental processes in the country.

An Taisce’s range of expertise extends across the Republic of Ireland’s natural, built, and social heritage. It seeks to educate, inform, and lead public opinion on the environment, to advocate and influence policy, and to manage a small portfolio of heritage properties. It does not operate in Northern Ireland.

The Planning Acts provide for An Taisce, and about twenty other prescribed bodies, to be informed of all planning applications in areas of scenic beauty or high amenity significance or where architectural, archaeological or environmental issues need to be considered. Local authorities are required, in certain defined circumstances under the Planning & Development Regulations, to consult An Taisce on development proposals.

The organisation is split into three operational divisions:

• The Environmental Education Unit operates nationwide programmes on behalf of the Irish government’s Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the National Transport Authority and the European Union, such as the Blue Flag water quality accreditation programme and Green Schools Programme that aims to promote higher environmental standards in schools.
  
• The Environmental Advocacy Unit monitors roughly 5% of all planning (local authority development approval) applications made annually, making submissions on a small number of those received, and appealing about 300 decisions a year to An Bord Pleanála, the statutory planning appeals board. The Advocacy Unit also monitors environmental standards and co-ordinates policy formation from the elected advocacy committees amongst the membership.
  
• The Properties Unit takes ownership of and looks after properties that have either historical significance or are environmentally sensitive. The trust properties are taken care of by both professional staff and volunteers who are involved with the day-to-day management of income generating properties such as Tailors’ Hall, which it also makes available for private hire, and the restoration of important resources such as the Boyne Navigation.

The organisation comprises over 5,000 members, with a range of membership fees. Some members are also organised in local organisations. Overall steering of the organisation is in the hands of a council, which in turn elects a board of management, and other internal policy and operational committees.