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2008: The Year In Review |
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In 2008 TIPT published more than 2,500 stories. This selection is the editors' choice of a very few of the Irish stories that help to represent the environmental developments over the last year. If you enjoy this issue or would like to see more of any particular areas covered in the New Year, please let us know. In spite of the state of our environment that TIPTs portrays, we wish all our readers a happy - or at least a stoic - New Year.
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| European court ruling may force change in planning laws |
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 THE GOVERNMENT could be forced to amend planning laws following a landmark ruling by Europe's highest court that found its existing rules fail to protect the environment.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg yesterday found that weak Irish planning legislation was responsible for the major landslide at Derrybrien, Co Galway, in 2003 that killed 50,000 fish and badly scarred a peat landscape.
It also ruled that a failure to mandate environmental impact assessments before projects begin and a commonly used planning mechanism to grant retention for projects with no planning permission, break EU law. Read more. |
| EU rules against Ireland on planning |
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IN a judgment which could have far-reaching implications, the EU has ruled that Ireland had wrongly interpreted the requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for certain planning projects. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) took the action because it claimed the Irish Government's implementation of the EIA directive was deficient. Officials in Brussels argued that Ireland relied exclusively on size as the reason for determining whether an EIA should be carried out for certain kinds of projects. Read more.
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| State fails to treat sewage properly |
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 THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that Ireland has failed to treat sewage properly at six locations around the country. The State was found to be in breach of a 1991 EU law on urban waste water in: Bray, Co Wicklow; Howth, Co Dublin; Shanganagh, Co Dublin; Letterkenny, Co Donegal; Tramore, Co Waterford, and Sligo.
The court ordered Ireland to pay costs in the case but did not impose fines, allowing the Government to comply with the ruling. A Government spokeswoman said: "The previous difficulties have all now been resolved and work to meet the requirements is under way." Read more.
See also Our sordid secret: 'The inadequate and reckless treatment of sewage in Ireland is slowly but surely destroying our waterways and coast.' |
| Gormley says fines on EU environment violations likely |
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 IRELAND FACES the possibility of being fined by the European courts for violations of EU environmental law, according to the Minister for the Environment.
John Gormley was speaking at a meeting of the Irish Environmental Lawyers' Association yesterday on the role of the EU in developing Irish environmental law.
While Ireland had some advanced environmental law for the time before joining the EU, European directives had since formed the backbone of current Irish environmental law, he said. Read more.
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| Government bagging €22m with plastic tax |
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 THE Government is raking in €22m a year from plastic bags despite claiming a 40pc increase in price rates would reduce usage. When the price was put up from 15c to 22c per bag last year, then Environment Minister Dick Roche said he hoped it would lead to a drop in the amount collected by the levy.
But shoppers still paid out €22m for around 100 million plastic bags last year, compared to €18m for around 120 million plastic bags in 2006. Read more.
Norwegian all-clear for plastic bags |
| Environmental citizen's groups score victory on public participation |
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 This week in Riga, Latvia, during the third Meeting of Parties (MOP-3) to the Aarhus Convention, members of non-governmental organisations and the public, led by the European ECO Forum, helped steer the Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters in a strong future direction. MOP-3 adopted a new strategic plan for the Convention, which includes elements outlining details for improving public participation, funding for access to justice and expansion of the Convention to the global level. Read more.
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| Harding judgment - Criteria for challenges to planning decisions clarified |
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 THE SUPREME Court has clarified some of the criteria upon which planning decisions may be challenged in judicial review proceedings. The clarifications came in a judgment yesterday rejecting a bid by a retired sailor to challenge permission for a €400 million tourism resort centre at the entrance to Kinsale harbour.
However, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray, criticised the "vague" and "imprecise" nature of provisions of the Planning and Development Act aimed at limiting such judicial review challenges. Read more. |
| Landmark Mayo case could have implications for farmers nationally |
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 A legal precedent concerning the rights of farmers to allow livestock to graze on their own lands could be set in Mayo, after atestcase being brought by the State began in Ballycroy District Court last week.
The complicated case, taken in the name of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, was against Mr Michael Joseph Leneghan and Mr Patrick McHugh, local farmers accused of allowing their sheep to graze on stateowned and protected lands, and during a 'closed period'. A case of this nature has never before been taken in Ireland. Read more.
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Judge overturns An Bord Pleanala approval for Bantry water scheme |
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 A Judge has ordered the complete rehearing of all issues in relation to an objection to Cork County council's plans for a new water supply system for Bantry. A spokesperson for the objector, Mr. Timothy Harrington, said Judge McDonagh's ruling, last Friday, would mean a complete rehearing of all of the issues that had been before An Bord Plenala in 2005 - 2006. In July 2005, Cork County Council made a water abstraction proposal - under the water supplies Act of 1942 - to take water from the Little Mealagh River and its tributary, the Torreen Steream, at Clanbanoo Lower, Bantry.
Mr. Harrington objected to the proposal on a number of grounds, but the Council pressed ahead with a €14.5 million Bantry Regional water Supply Scheme because housing and retail developments were being put on hold due to water shortages. Read more. |
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Residents face huge legal costs over plans to oppose terminal |
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 HARBOUR residents are facing huge legal bills in a David versus Goliath planning battle with the port of Cork. A leading community figure in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, revealed the huge financial burden facing residents who plan to fight the port's plans to build a container terminal at Oysterbank.
Braham Brennan, the chairman of Ringaskiddy District Residents' Association, said the association has been left with a €157,000 debt after its decision to oppose, at a Bord Pleanála hearing, plans for an incinerator in the harbour. That project was granted permission by the Bord despite advice from one of its own senior planning inspectors that it should be rejected. Read more.
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| Green activist smashes Cabinet secrecy |
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 THE iron rule barring the release of Cabinet papers for 30 years has been smashed by green campaigners. An EU directive allowing access to documents relating to pollution has been judged superior to the Constitutional doctrine of Cabinet confidentiality by the Information Commissioner.
In a landmark ruling, the commissioner ordered environmental papers, historically reserved for ministerial eyes only, be released to a Green Party activist. Green council candidate Gary Fitzgerald's bid for access to Cabinet discussions on greenhouse gas emissions overturns secrecy rules and paves the way for other classified documents to be made available to citizens almost immediately after being seen by ministers. Read more.
Followed by: Cowen takes cabinet secrecy battle to court.
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Gormley denies Cork contamination cover-up |
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 THE MINISTER for the Environment, John Gormley, last night rejected claims by an environmental group of a cover-up over contamination at the site of the former Irish Ispat steel plant at Haulbowline, Cork Harbour.
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) accused Cork County Council, agents for the clean-up by the Department of the Environment, of using "Cabinet confidentiality" to refuse them technical reports.
FIE said yesterday it had received documentation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including a fax detailing "emergency response activity" as a result of a contractor's machinery sinking into a toxic "sludge pit" on February 2nd, 2008. Read more.
Toxic Island: everyone knew | Public misled over Haulbowline waste | Latest: No 'immediate risk' from toxic site |
| Court challenge to €500m gas facility |
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A €500 MILLION liquified natural gas facility, which was the first project to be "fast tracked" under the 2006 Strategic Infrastructure Act, may now be held up by legal actions that have been filed in the High Court. The Kilcolgan Residents' Association and the Friends of the Irish Environment have each lodged proceedings against the decision by An Bórd Pleanála to grant planning permission to Shannon LNG to build a terminal near Tarbert, Co Kerry, in the Shannon Estuary. Read more.
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Newman resigns from Gormley's M3 advisory body |
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 DR CONOR Newman, of NUI Galway, who worked on the Tara Discovery Programme, has accused the Government of ignoring expert advice about the significance of the 2,500-yearold national monument discovered on the M3 motorway route at Lismullin. He has resigned from the committee established by Environment Minister John Gormley to oversee the excavations of the Lismullin monument.
Mr Newman accused the National Roads Authority (NRA) of "wrecking" the monument, which will be covered by a road in the coming weeks. The NRA had ignored expert advice that anything discovered in the Tara-Skryne Valley was associated with the Hill of Tara, widely acknowledged since early last century, he added. Read more.
Also: Archaeologists 'used to destroy heritage', conference told |
| Planning chief blasts 'lack of coherence' in zoning policy |
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 THE public has no faith in planning policy across the country because of inconsistencies across the board, the country's most senior planner said yesterday. Chairman of An Bord Pleanala, John O'Connor, launched a blistering attack on poor practice in his own sector. He said the system "lacked coherence" at local, regional and national level.
The board's chairman claimed the current system saw authorities regularly deviating from plans and he urged a reduction in the number of local authorities tasked with deciding planning applications.Calling for a cull, he said there were over 90 bodies with power to grant planning permission and the bloated system needed to be rationalised. Read more.
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| 50,000 new homes lying empty in 'ghost' estates |
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AT LEAST 50,000 newly-built homes are lying empty in 'ghost' estates across the country because of the economic downturn. Hard-pressed developers and estate agents are being forced to drop their asking prices by as much as 50pc in a desperate effort to shift unwanted homes dotted across the country. Read more.
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| Huge rise in greenhouse gas from transport |
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 Greenhouse gas emissions from road transport have almost tripled since 1990, the latest figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate. The 2006 figures published by the EPA show that while there was a marginal decrease of 0.8 per cent in emissions for the year compared to 2005, the improvement masked another substantial increase in transport emissions.
Emissions in this sector were up 5.2 per cent (or almost 680,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2006. Read more.
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| Stark findings' of species and habitats assessment |
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 THE FINDINGS of the first comprehensive assessment of the status of protected species and their habitats in Ireland are "very stark", according to Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe, one of the directors of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
But he said it was hardly surprising that decades of intensive agriculture and at least 12 years of the economic boom had taken a toll on the natural environment, and, in some cases such as the freshwater pearl mussel, put the survival of species in danger. Read more.
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| Irish in the dark about threat to biodiversity |
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MOST Irish people say they have never heard of and don't know anything about the loss of biodiversity, despite up to half of all Europe's birds, butterflies, fish and animals being threatened with extinction. The Irish were also at the bottom of the class when it came to knowing how such a loss would affect them, according to a poll carried out for the European Commission across the EU. Scientists say the rapid disappearance of all kinds of life, from bacteria and insects to plants and animals, is as dangerous as climate change, and closely related to it. Without the variety, things we take for granted are under threat. Read more. |
| IFA criticises Minister Gormley's plans for further SAC designations |
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 IFA Connacht Vice President Michael Silke has criticised the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, for his plans to tighten enforcement measures and accelerate the procedures for designating SACs.
Mr Silke said: "The comments by Minister Gormley, which were made to coincide with report from the Natural Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) on the status of habitats in Ireland, is an affront to farmers who have suffered greatly from the designation process. Already 11% of the land area is designated, and if Minister Gormley is not stopped, this could soon rise to 20%." Read more.
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| Investigations underway into cause of Kerry mudslide |
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 A company which began work on a wind farm on a mountain bog in north Kerry two weeks ago tonight said an independent investigation was being launched into the cause of a massive landslide which killed thousands of wild salmon and trout. Tra Investments Limited in Tralee said geological experts would assess what led to a two kilometre long slick flowing off the Stacks Mountains polluting the most important water supplies.
The valuable rivers Smearlagh and Feale were badly affected with up to 3,000 salmon and sea trout killed by the liquid peat which blocked roads and swept away a bridge. Read more.
Further Kerry landslides feared as salmon and sea trout toll put at 8,000 | Fisheries board seeks legal advice on landslide costs | Windfarm work restarts despite landslide fears
And in Drumkeerin, on the Leitrim Roscommon border: Irish lake spared bogslide grinds to a halt. 'The slide began on Tuesday afternoon during the construction of a road to the Garvagh Glebe North wind farm, a joint project between Coillte and Hibernian Wind Power, a subsidiary of the ESB'. |
| Fishermen warn of further protests if talks inconclusive |
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 FISHERMEN WHO have suspended port blockades pending discussions with two Government Ministers have warned that they are prepared to resume their full campaign if talks are unsuccessful. Ebbie Sheehan, spokesman for southwest fishermen, said yesterday that "plan B" would be implemented if the talks were inconclusive.
The group suspended its blockade of Cork and Waterford ports, and a planned demonstration in Dublin port, when Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Brendan Smith broke his silence on the issue and agreed to meet representatives today. Read more.
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| Hopefully, we'll be able to see the forest for the trees |
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RAKING UP LEAVES for the compost heap (not, these days, for a whiff of spicy blue bonfire smoke) ought to induce some satisfaction with the world. A little melancholy is allowed, perhaps, but of the sweeter sort; nothing to mar a leisurely musing on nature's continuity, renewal, all that, writes Michael Viney But even as I heaped the wheelbarrow, a new forestry missive was spiralling into my inbox. Waiting there already were 155 pages of the new Review of Forest Policy for the Heritage Council and an acerbic 10-page position-paper from Friends of the Irish Environment. Read more. |
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Countryside applications to be reviewed as NI rules relaxed |
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 New houses will still only be allowed in the countryside in exceptional circumstances, despite a loosening of strict regulations. Details of draft planning policy PPS21, intended to replace the controversial PPS14, were released by the Department of the Environment yesterday.
PPS14 effectively stopped the building of new single homes in rural areas, although the policy was later deemed unlawful because it was introduced by the Department of Regional Development, which did not have the power to do so. The new proposals mean it will be easier for farmers and owners of non-agricultural businesses to build a house on their land. Read more.
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11,000 pollution cases but only one person jailed |
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 One person has been jailed for water pollution offences in Northern Ireland in the past five years - despite more than 11,000 pollution incidents and over £2 million spent on investigations.
SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns, who revealed the figures, said the effectiveness of warning letters has to be questioned as they do not seem to act as a deterrent. And he warned that the fines dished out often do not cover the cost of the investigations. Read more. |
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Where the land' is precious, but the environment not |
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 LAND, and the emotion it arouses, is famously near the centre of the North's tensions. But "the environment" is a modern invention in many minds, not the same thing at all as the tilled field, bottomless bog, lonely hills, or long redbrick streets into their third century of intensive, varied use. Environmental concern has no special appeal to one or other main community. Instincts cross all the traditional divides. You might well be proud of the fields: you might also have less than a grain of interest in hedges full of wildflowers where a wire fence would be easier to maintain. Read more.
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