July 6th, 2017 Government action is required to ensure that environmental regulation is aligned across the island of Ireland in a post-Brexit world, a new Seanad report has found. The report – Brexit: Implications and Potential Solutions – also calls for Ireland to be “considered a single bio-geographic unit” amid fears Read more…
28th March 2017 Christchurch’s Sun Sea and Soil event came to a close last night with a screening of Atlantic, a documentary highlighting the difficulties fishing communities in three separate places separated by the Atlantic but connected by the challenges they face. The season has been as successful as it has been Read more…
March 3rd 2017 Protesters dressed as bees, foxes and even an Angry Bird, made their presence felt outside the Oireachtas this week as the controversial Heritage Bill came back up for debate. The Heritage Bill being put forward by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Heather Humphreys Read more…
November 18th 2016 Irish Senators are continuing to strongly object to proposed laws which will allow extended hedge-cutting and scrub burning. The bill which will allow land owners to cut hedgerows and burn scrub in uplands for an extra month will damage wildlife experts have warned. Yesterday Senators continued to question Read more…
November 4th 2016 Ireland’s wildlife is under threat from a proposed law making its way through the Oireachtas right now. It will extend the time allowed to cut hedges and burn scrub. Much of Ireland’s biodiversity rely on hedges and scrub to survive and it will have a damaging impact Read more…
The Seanad has voted against the EU Canada trade deal that the European Commission hope to bring in at the end of the month. The vote makes the Irish parliament first in the world to reject the deal and Friends of the Earth are calling on the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to respect the vote of the Seanad. This trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement or CETA for short, is part of a new breed of trade deals that raise serious issues about the power of multinational companies. CETA, if it is allowed to go ahead, will see companies able to sue countries like Ireland for bringing in laws that damage their profits. Examples of this include: tobacco companies suing for new laws against cigarette packaging and energy companies suing over fracking bans.
