Campaign group Tarawatch, which is seeking to reroute the controversial M3 motorway away from Tara, said that unless the road is moved, the area will never be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   Read more.

LOUGH GUR, one of Europe's most important archaeological sites and located in Co Limerick, could soon be awarded world heritage status. Ireland boasts two listed world heritage sites: Skellig Michael (1996) and the Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne (1993).
 
Limerick County Council has submitted an application to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to have Lough Gur included on Ireland's tentative list of potential World Heritage sites.    Read more.

 

The city council is coming under pressure to change one of its proposals to limit the removal of water from upper Lough Derg to high flood times only and to pipe and store the water in the Wicklow Mountains.
The request was made during a recent meeting between the city council and the Shannon River Basin Advisory Council, which was set up last year with the task of managing, monitoring and investigating issues relating to the River Shannon, particularly those concerned with water condition and content.   Read more.

THE Department of the Environment has lodged a submission to An Bord Pleanala outlining potential risks to human, plant and animal life from the proposed development of two EUR150 million incinerators at Cork Harbour. The document which is one of approximately 284 submissions, warns of potential problems that need to be addressed if permission is granted to the 280,000 tonne hazardous and household waste incinerators.

It points out that the incinerator is within one kilometre of a European-Union designated Special Protection Area (SPA) which could be adversely affected by emissions from the incinerators. It also said that the area has more planned areas of conservation including Rostellan and Monkstown Creek.    Read more.

 

But management at Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have decided to scrap the project, which was an objective of the local authority's county development plan.    Read more.

 

There is currently a backlog of over 2,500 planning applications awaiting adjudication by An Bord Pleanala, many dealing with one-off rural housing. Mr Gormley said that reducing the number of members on the appeals board who must be present to make a decision was specifically aimed at "smaller applications" with larger quorums still necessary for larger-scale projects.    Read more.

 

He started developing a prototype because, as the owner of an electric Citroen Berlingo, he wanted to power it from a home source.    Read more.

 

Includes: Smith unveils payment for farms hit by waste scheme payment deferrals

What do we see when we look at a tree? As the poet William Blake suggests, that depends entirely on who is looking. For most of us, trees are vaguely good things that adorn our surroundings in a pleasant but unremarkable way - after the childhood climbing phase, we pay them little heed unless they impede us or are abruptly felled. The more environmentally aware see trees with more conscious approval, knowing that they remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and provide habitats for birds.  

 

Gormley write on
OUR Earth Hour campaign has been given a massive boost by Environment Minister John Gormley. He has written to all 34 county and city councils in Ireland urging them to take part. In the first week 9 signed up to turn off all non-essential lights at 8.30pm on March 28th. City Councils involved are Galway, Limerick, Waterford, and Cork. County Councils in Kerry, Laois, Sligo, Monahan and Longford are also on board.    Read more.

 

The Victoria Square dome, Belfast Wheel, Queen's University and Belfast City Hall will be plunged into darkness in one month's time as part of the biggest ever mass global action on climate change. Skylines across the globe will darken as millions of people across the planet switch off their lights for one hour, sending a signal to global leaders that they must take urgent action to tackle climate change.

Geoff Nuttall, head of WWF Northern Ireland, said: "By signing up to switch their lights off, millions of people will be showing world leaders that they care about curbing the worst impacts of climate change while we still can."   Read more.

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has insisted he did not ban ads urging people to act against carbon emissions. The Minister was appearing in front of Stormont Environment Committee today after it recently carried a vote of no confidence in him. This morning the Minister insisted that he did not ban the Government sponsored Act on Co2 ads which were not shown on some local TV channels. "There is no ban, it is not my role to ban these things," he said. "It wouldn't have been possible for me to ban the Act on Co2 ads as they were shown on the national channels and were on some of the local radio stations."    Read more.

Former DUP junior minister Ian Paisley jnr has been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to a property deal in north Antrim.

The Northern Assembly's standards and privileges committee has dismissed a complaint by hardline Ballymena unionist Lyle Cubitt. Mr Paisley was accused of paying a below-the-market price to businessman Seymour Sweeney for a house in Bushmills and of failing to disclose this "partial gift".    Read more.

 

Some of the finest gardens and woodlands in Britain are under threat from two closely related and aggressive fungus-like plant diseases.

 
Environment minister Jane Kennedy said they were attacking "pristine" locations and could potentially damage the landscape and the tourism industry.  The government has allocated £25m in a bid to eradicate the diseases which are spreading across the country.
The two diseases are Phytophthora Kernoviae and Phytophthora Ramorum. Rhododendrons, a carrier of both diseases, are likely to be removed in woodland to combat the problem.    Read more.

 

 

The bans violate both EU law and World trade organisation (WTO) rules, a commission source said, because they are not based on scientific analysis. The European food safety authority had ruled that evidence submitted by both countries in favour of their bans did not justify them.    Read more.

 

The EU has long maintained that emission trading must form a central part of global efforts to combat climate change. This week it received fresh support from a hitherto unexpected quarter: America.
 
In his first speech to congress on Tuesday, new US president Barack Obama called on US lawmakers to propose a greenhouse gas emission trading scheme (ETS) for America. "I ask this congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America," Mr Obama said.   Read more.