Leinster Lawn was once a lovely park, a green space, which was made into a car park some years ago. This was supposed to be a temporary arrangement until a long term solution could be found. However it remains a car park to this day, and it is us Members of the Oireachtas who are …
Category Archive
for: ‘Environment’
Trinity Seanad Election 2007: With Friends Like These?
“Time to get yourself re-elected to the Seanad,” says she. “Target a section of the TCD constituency and go for it.” “Where shall I start?” I ask. “All the lefties and bearded trade unionists cross the street to avoid me. I seem to have offended them.” “You should have thought of that before you went …
Climate Change – A Vital Issue of Our Time
Climate Change and the Environment will of course be important issues in the coming weeks of the election campaign. To ensure it stays at the top of the agenda when the election is over, I have placed a motion for debate it in the Seanad on the subject for when the new Oireachtas meets. The …
Government Must not Roll Over on Issue of Sellafield
The British Prime Minister made a speech on nuclear waste and nuclear energy last night. In the height of arrogance in dealing with the Irish republic, he decided to approve another generation of nuclear plants in the United Kingdom. This morning the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, made the same …
Opposition to the Nitrates Directive is Opportunistic and Sacrifices Public Health Concerns
The nitrates directive was first meant to come into force in 1991. It amazes me that it did not come into force much earlier and that successive Governments have resisted its implementation for so long. The Minister should be commended for hastening this in his early days in office, and the directive should have been …
Stop Salmon Driftnetting!
In a Seanad debate on salmon driftnetting, I called on Minster of State Pat the Cope Gallagher to stop protecting vested interests, in order to help tourism, anglers – and the salmon: What is happening in this debate is very simple. We are seeing a very obvious problem, which has been emerging over a period …
CRH has Bullied its Way Through the Irish Corporate and Political Worlds
This company has bullied its way through the Irish corporate and political world for a long period. It has been well documented that it appears to regard its quasi-monopolistic status as placing it above the law. Roadstone Dubline Ltd declined to attend the meeting of the Environment Committee to discuss illegal dumping. It is obvious …
EPA Stands up to Cement Roadstone
The Environmental Protection Agency has provisionally refused permission for Cement Roadstone Holdings to build a landfill to store the illegal waste found on their land in Co Wicklow. Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, I congratulated the EPA and urged them to impose the best solution to protect the environment and water …
We have Behaved Appallingly in Allowing Drift Net Fishing to Continue
I have come across an extraordinary number of people who are concerned about this although I represent a constituency which is not near the sea, the sea fishing community or any vested interest group. However, I have been lobbied by many people; anglers, hoteliers and others in the tourism industry who say that what the …
Sellafield Affects Northern Ireland and Republic Alike
Today the Seanad debated a Government motion on Sellafield. I am delighted this motion has been proposed because I have been tabling motions on Sellafield for a very long time in a similar, but perhaps not quite so detailed, manner. No matter how many times motions are tabled regarding Sellafield and the danger it poses …