TIPT is a free environmental news service published by Friends of the Irish Environment weekly on Tuesdays. More than 13,000 stories from the last four years are searchable on our website, where comments can be posted on individual stories.
http://friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/ |
| State subsidies of internal flights the height of folly |
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Short-haul flying may well be the most pollution-intensive form of travel so why is the State subsidising it? asks JOHN GIBBONS
'THIS GREAT little nation" was how an AIB bank manager once famously described Ireland in a letter to his kleptocratic client Charles Haughey. The ghost of our late taoiseach must have been looking approvingly down on the Anglo Irish Bank corporate hospitality box in Croke Park in recent days. Despite their role in bringing this great little nation to the brink, the corporate champagne continues to flow. Another of Haughey's legacies was to approve funding for Knock airport, which he officially opened in 1986. Read more.
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Carbon tax 'could harm tourism' |
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 THE INTRODUCTION of a carbon tax could have a negative impact on the tourism industry, Fáilte Ireland has warned.
In a report on climate change from the tourism development agency to be launched next week, reference is made to the inclusion in the programme for government of the consideration of a national carbon tax. "While these measures are aimed at addressing the sources of climate change, there is a risk of unintended negative consequences for the tourism industry depending on how they are implemented," the report says. Read more. |
| Minister warns water schemes they face 'draconian' measures |
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 A MINISTER of State warned yesterday that "draconian" measures may have to be taken against group water schemes which continue to provide poor quality drinking water.
On a visit to Mayo, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment Michael Kitt said errant schemes "must face up to their responsibilities". Otherwise local authorities would use the powers now available to them, he said.
Mr Kitt was in Mayo to open new treatment plants for Ballycroy and Fahy group water schemes. Read more. |
| Major development in Tralee gets go-ahead |
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 PERMISSION HAS been granted for one of the most ambitious development projects ever in Tralee, Co Kerry, involving a new shopping centre on the GAA grounds and the building of a new GAA stadium on the racecourse near the town.
An Bord Pleanála has authorised the conversion of the Austin Stack GAA ground in Tralee to a multi-storey shopping centre and granted permission for a new GAA stadium on the Ballybeggan racecourse on the outskirts of the town. Read more. |
| Sky-walk' plan for new Sligo square |
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 A "SKY-WALK" over the Inner Relief Road to connect the train and bus stations to the town centre via a new civic square is proposed in the new development plan for Sligo and its environs. As pictured in the plan the new pedestrian bridge would slope from the end of the railway station over to the proposed new open area at the end of Wine Street.
The plan is that a new square at the junction of Adelaide Street and Lord Edward Street would act as an entrance or "gateway" to the town centre for people arriving by bus or train. Read more. |
| Corrib oral hearing could overlap with Solitaire visit |
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 WITH planning applications for the revised Corrib onshore pipeline due to be submitted this week, the oral hearing on the project could coincide with the laying of pipes in Broadhaven Bay this summer. The Corrib Gas partners confirmed yesterday (Monday) that they have started the process to resubmit the revised route to An Bord Pleanála, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. An application under the Strategic Infrastructure Act for the pipeline as well as a compulsory acquisition order will be sent to An Bord Pleanála in the coming days. Read more. |
| Homes in Gaeltacht lie empty |
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 A MASSIVE 33 per cent of homes in the Mayo Gaeltacht were empty on the night of the last census in 2006.
According to a TG4 study on housing figures, two out of every five houses (40 per cent) in Achill were empty on April 23, 2006, while a total of 34 per cent of homes in Tourmakeady were without permanent occupants.
In Erris, 30 per cent of homes were without any resident on ths night of the census. The census also showed that almost 40 per cent of houses - or two out of five - were empty on the Aran Islands. Read more. |
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Referral by safety before LNG rejected |
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 An Bord Pleanala has rejected a referral by Safety before LNG regarding the Shannon LNG gas pipeline. Last Wednesday the planning authority granted permission for a gas pipeline between Tarbert and Foynes. However in January Safety before LNG submitted a query under section 5 of the Planning Act 2000 to An Bord Pleanalá. The group questioned the way in which the development was split into a number of separate planning applications. Read more. |
| Company seeks licence to search for coal in Sligo |
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 FOLLOWING on from prospecting licences being granted for silver, lead and zinc exploration last August it has now been revealed that a company is planning to launch a search for coal deposits in county Sligo. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has given notice that he intends to grant prospecting licences under the Mineral Developments Act in respect of coal to a company called Terra Energy Ltd with an address of 18 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin. The notice lists hundreds of townlands in County Sligo and also counties Leitrim, Cavan and Roscommon for which it is intended to grant the licenses. Read more. |
| Bicycle rental scheme to go ahead |
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 The French scheme was introduced 18 months ago with 20,000 bicycles, but 7,800 have already been stolen and 1 1,600 have been vandalised or damaged, according to figures released by JCDecaux.
Re¤mi Pheulpin, director general of JCDecaux, told French media the scheme was unsustainable since all of the costs were borne by the company, while the revenues went to the city. He said a private company could not shoulder the burden alone. However, a spokesman for Dublin City Council said the situation in Paris would not have any impact on plans for the Dublin scheme. Read more. |
| Golf club removes 160-year-old lime trees |
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 HISTORIC LIME trees are being cut down at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club despite pleas by conservation bodies, golfers and experts to retain them. About one third of the 27 trees had been removed yesterday.
The avenue of 160-year-old trees - planted a decade before the visit of Queen Victoria to Killarney - between the club house and Killarney's famed Lower Lake were being removed because they had become a nuisance and a health and safety hazard, management at the club said. Read more. |
| Fur farm footage posted on internet |
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 VIDEO footage from inside the country's six fur farms has been posted on the internet by animal rights activists. The clips show apparently distressed mink locked in small cages. The ability of activists to breach security at the facilities will raise fears about the possibility of more of the non-native animals escaping into the countryside.
The footage is believed to have been recorded in recent weeks by members of the Animal Liberation Front, an organisation whose US branch has been classified as a terrorist organisation. Read more.
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| Farmers demand meeting with Minister over turf cutting ban |
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THE Minister of the Environment John Gormley is to discuss with the Cabinet within the next few weeks proposals on how to best manage the ban and how restoration of these bogs should be carried out. But local farmers plan to continue their battle to have the ban reversed.
A spokesperson for Minister Gormley told the Westmeath Independent: "The Minister intends to bring proposals to Government shortly and will be happy to make a statement immediately afterwards." Read more. |
| Many green issues of greater concern here than globally |
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IRISH PEOPLE are more concerned about climate change issues than many other countries and they claim to have an extremely high recycling rate, a global survey has found. The research was commissioned by marketing consultancy Accenture and involved 10,733 consumers in 22 countries including Europe, the US, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia, India, China, Argentina, Chile and South Africa. Read more. |
| Ireland's only cable car to be replaced 40 years on |
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 IRELAND'S only cable car is set to be replaced next month - exactly 40 years on from when it was first installed to link an island off the south-west coast to the mainland.
The new e30,000 car will replace one that was set up in 1969 to provide Dursey Island's population with an alternative to the sometimes treacherous boat crossing of the channel, which has extremely strong and dangerous currents. Cork County Council had the cable car built by a firm in Limerick. Read more. |
| Svalbard Global Seed Vault deposit |
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 Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, fisheries and Food Trevor Sargent has launched an official deposit of Irish agriculture seeds to the recently opened Svalbard Global Seed VaWltgBa Norway. The Irish deposit consists of some of the most important seeds in the reference collections of Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Almost two-thirds of a million seeds, representing unique accessions of Ireland's forage grasses, potatoes, wheat, oats and barley collections will be deposited at SvaJbard as part of Ireland's international commitment to maintain a broad genetic resource base for future needs. Read more. |
| Just do it |
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The News of the World turns up the heat on our politicians today and urges them to get behind Earth Hour. We want to see every publicly funded building in the country lead by example and switch off the lights for one hour at 8.30pm on March 28. And we're going to start by putting pressure on county and town councils. Ireland is still not listed on the website of the organizing body, the World Wildlife Fund, as a country taking part in Earth Hour because NOT ONE city has yet signed up yet.
Dublin City Council has put the wheels in motion, but others are lagging badly behind - using red tape as an excuse for ducking out. Tony Lowes, one of the founders of Friends of the Irish Environment, is calling on Irish News of the World Readers to write to their public representatives and ask for their support. Read more. |
| 'Jail badger baiters' says Wilson |
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 People involved in badger baiting should be jailed, Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has said. Animal welfare workers and police carried out raids at the weekend in County Armagh over allegations of badger baiting. No arrests were made. Mr Wilson said: "There are laws to protect badgers, but in my view, the sanctions are not strong enough." The minister said he would be putting forward proposals before the Assembly to strengthen existing legislation. Read more. |
| John Lewis: the inquiry everyone wants |
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 Environment Minister Sammy Wilson's decision to hold a public inquiry into plans to bring John Lewis to Sprucefield has won approval across the board. The announcement signals an end to the years of uncertainty that have kept the multi-million pound project in limbo. Supporters of the scheme welcomed the announcement as a chance to get the £150 million development back on track, while other groups warned that the inquiry must not be a tick-the-box exercise with a predetermined outcome. Read more. |
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Århus finally gets go-ahead in Iceland |
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 Iceland's new government has decided to ratify the Århus convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. Iceland was one of the original signatories in 1998 (EE 25/06/98).
Left-Green party member Kolbrun Halldorsdottir, who became Iceland's new environment minister when the government was sworn in on 1 February, was behind the motion to ratify the convention.
Once Iceland completes the procedure, Liechtenstein will be the only EEA country that still has to ratify it.
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| The Vanishing Face of Gaia |
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 It is now a commonplace that there is a plausible threat to the welfare of our species from the environmental damage caused by us. This notion, with its echoes of the Mutual Assured Destruction of the Cold War, has in recent years evolved rapidly from minority obsession to international political preoccupation. Many eminent scientists have joined in as the debate has rolled on, but only a handful can claim that they were seminal. Prime among the small group of pioneers is James Lovelock.
Lovelock is unusually widely recognised by his fellows. Scientists, like other human beings, are comfortable in tribes. Read more. |
| 8 in 10 conflicts in environmental 'hotspots': study |
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 Most conflicts fought in the second half of the last century were waged in biologically diverse, fragile places, with many negative consequences and a few surprising positive ones, a study said Friday. A team of international conservation scientists found that 81 percent of conflicts fought between 1950 and 2000 in which at least 1,000 people died played out in "biodiversity hotspots" from the Himalayas in Asia to the coastal forests of east Africa.
The hotspots contain the entire populations of more than half of all plant species and at least 42 percent of all vertebrates, and are highly threatened, said the study, which was published in Conservation Biology magazine. Read more. |
| Climate Fears Are Driving 'Ecomigration' Across Globe |
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Adam Fier recently sold his home, got rid of his car and pulled his twin 6-year-old girls out of elementary school in Montgomery County. He and his wife packed the family's belongings and moved to New Zealand - a place they had never visited or seen before, and where they have no family or professional connections. Among the top reasons: global warming. Halfway around the world, the president of Kiribati, a Pacific nation of low-lying islands, said last week that his country is exploring ways to move all its 100,000 citizens to a new homeland because of fears that a steadily rising ocean will make the islands uninhabitable. Read more. |
| This financial crisis is now truly global |
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 The financial crisis has moved from Wall Street to all streets, as the economic shock causes strains and suffering in every part of the world economy. In Florida, a state devastated by tumbling house prices and repossessions, the inhabitants are arming themselves against recession, with requests for concealed weapon permits up 42 per cent in the past 45 days. In Moscow, the murder rate has climbed by 16 per cent. At Tetsuya's - the most exclusive and expensive restaurant in Sydney - the waiting list has shrunk from three months to 24 hours.
The price of platinum has fallen by half, and the world's largest producer, Anglo Platinum, which operates mostly in South Africa, is axing 10,000 jobs. Read more. | |
