Niall Sargent is an award-winning multimedia investigative reporter with Noteworthy, a community-led investigative journalism platform with The Journal, where he is focused on issues related to climate change, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.

Niall has developed a speciality in reporting on the intersection between business and the environment to fill a niche in the Irish media landscape. This includes in-depth examinations of the growing carbon footprint of Ireland’s largest industries, the impact of commercial forestry on endangered species, and the negative role that large-scale salmon farming has on the marine world.

He has also examined wider social issues in the agricultural world, including poor working conditions in the Irish mushroom industry and has investigated the climate impacts of agricultural policy and subsidies pushing Irish farmers into a more intensive production model.

He holds an MA in Investigative Journalism from City University London and a Diploma in Online Journalism from Goldsmiths University in London. Prior to his move into journalism, Niall was a Criminal Intelligence Analyst with INTERPOL on projects related to drug trafficking, the trafficking in organs and the illicit sale of pharmaceuticals.

Niall Sargent

Basic information

Name
Niall Sargent
Title
Investigative reporter
Expertise
Climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services
Country
Ireland
City
Dublin

Supported projects

Can depopulation in Europe's islands be reversed?

  • Cities

United Kingdom - With islands across Europe having experienced years of population decline, many now face an uncertain future.

Angela Catlin

Hidden cross-border pollution in Ireland and the United Kingdom

  • Environment
  • Industry

BELFAST - As part of a cross-border project to investigate the poultry industry on the island of Ireland, the investigative team from The Detail, Noteworthy and The Guardian took a deep dive into cross-border litter trade and the environmental impacts from the industry as it expands in line with State policy.

Peat pressure: Industrial peat extraction in enforcement firing line

  • Environment
  • Industry

DERRYCRAVE - As part of a cross-border project to investigate the peat extraction industries in Ireland and Latvia, the Irish investigative platform Noteworthy has examined the impacts of unlicensed peat extraction across the country. The findings reveal a system of largely unregulated peat extraction that continues to this day where the Irish State has largely fallen down on its enforcement role, including that no local or national authority maintains a register of peat companies or the amount of peat extracted for commercial purposes.