Today, 29th April 2014, Friends of the Earth launch the Fracking Free Ireland campaign for the local elections. In the run up to polling day to be held on May 23rd, candidates are being asked to take the 'Fracking Free Ireland Pledge' which calls for a commitment to oppose the development of this controversial fossil fuel extraction industry in Ireland. read full story / add a comment

In a submission to the National Peatlands Strategy, Friends of the Irish Environment have pointed out that total emissions from our bogs are of the same scale as total emissions from the transport sector.

However, the authors write that ‘the importance of our peatlands for the climate is not correctly acknowledged by the draft Strategy. As a result the draft Strategy fails to integrate with climate change policy and indeed is in conflict with Ireland's obligations under the UNFCCC.’ read full story / add a comment

If the industrial salmon cages are permitted to be located in Galway , the sea trout and wild salmon are impaired.
Evidence adduced by gargan et al show unequivocal evidence of louse infestation on returning fish ( to spawn) to be attributable to the proximity of returning wild fish . The closer the salmon cages are located to the swim paths of the fish , the more the infestation of lice on the wild fish read full story / add a comment

Having followed the partial conversion of Drax coal power station in the UK to biomass, we are dismayed to see calls across the Irish media for Moneypoint to be converted to biomass. Those calls follow ReThink Pylon's recent publication of a report by a UK consultancy which greenwashes Drax's experience.
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FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT - PRESS RELEASE - 20 MARCH 2014

A United Nations Committee has found there is a 'profound suspicion of non-compliance' over the United Kingdom's failure to undertake trans-boundary consultations for the construction of a new nuclear plant in Somerset, England.

The investigation has been undertaken by the Implementation Committee of the United Nations Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context [Espoo]. read full story / add a comment

It was three years on March 11th since the triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011. This article attempts to try and give an picture of the situation today and to show that the accident is still an active event that will take many decades to cleanup and it is anything but over.
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Ahead of tomorrow’s opening of the An Bord Pleanala hearing into the plans for the clean up of the old steel plant’s toxic dump on Haulbowline Island, Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] has called for the work to be extended to the site of the steel plant itself.

The current proposal is limited to the 9 hectare waste dump on the island.

FIE says numerous reports show that the contamination on the island includes not just the 9 hectare East Tip which is the subject of the license hearing but the 12 hectare site of the steel plant itself which is being ignored. read full story / add a comment

For the third year running North West Network will be entering a horse drawn float into the Sligo St. Patrick's Day Parade, with a "frack free Ireland" theme. The 2014 parade, however, will see their attempt to set a world record for the most people dressed as W.B. Yeats in one place at one time! read full story / add a comment

PRESS RELEASE - MONDAY 3 MARCH - FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT

Call on Minister over salmon farm ‘wipe-out’

Simon Coveney is being asked to give the figures of the escapees from the recent storm damage to a salmon farm in Bantry Bay. A written parliamentary question tabled by Clare Daly, TD, is due for reply later this week.

According to the west cork based Friends of the Irish Environment, the farm has effectively been ‘wiped out’.

In a statement released today, the group said that they ‘understand that there are only between 3,000 and 5,000 fish left at a site that held between 160,000 – 180,000 salmon.’

‘Simon Coveney should have known about the extent of the loses since the fish were moved and counted on 19 February and yet his Department is silent on the subject.’ read full story / add a comment

Press Release 22-02-2014

FIE has written to Pat Rabbitte asking him to take issue with the Ombudsman who has accepted the Department of Agriculture's claim that the scientific advice provided by Inland Fisheries Ireland for an EU investigation into salmon and sea lice contained 'many inaccuracies', 'fundamental errors', and 'omissions of relevant facts and misleading commentaries' which 'would have had disastrous results for Ireland's reputation had it sent the report to the European Commission'. read full story / add a comment

It is estimated that between 60,000 to 80,000 one year old farmed salmon have escaped from a salmon farm at Gerahies, Bantry Bay, County Cork with an added undetermined number of smaller fish escaping after a bad storm on Saturday 1st February 2014. Save Bantry Bay said: ‘We are particularly concerned because of the very real likelihood of further escapees. The protective nets have been stripped by the gales and the seas are overtopping the cages, allowing salmon to escape and predators like seals to enter.’ read full story / add a comment

Ireland's future agricultural interests are clearly best served by promoting and producing clean organic GM free food for which there is an increasing market and higher margins. So why are key figures pushing a pro GM agenda? read full story / add a comment

The Steve Irwin’s helicopter first located the Nisshin Maru at 64°44' S, 162°34' W, in New Zealand’s sovereign waters in the Ross Dependency Antarctic region, and inside the internationally recognised Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. read full story / add a comment

Hare coursing can legally be held in THE WORST POSSIBLE WEATHER CONDITIONS. The cowardly politicians who refuse to legislate against it also refuse to clamp down on even this additional cruelty. read full story / add a comment

Latest Connemara fish farm could lead to EU daily fines. Government reported to EU

An environmental group has reported the resumption of fish farming in Kilkiernan Bay on the north shore of Galway Bay to the European Commission.

Friends of the Irish Environment, whose submission in June 2013 is being considered by the Commission as part of the reopening of the investigation into sea lice and salmon, have published the REQUEST FOR IMMEDIATE MEASURES AGAINST IRELAND FOR RENEWED AND UNASSESSED SALMON FARMING IN IRELAND IN KILKIERAN/CILL CHIARÁIN BAY NATURA 2000 SITE on their website.

According to a statement from the group ‘The reopening of these sites in Kilkieran Bay using expired licences is in direct contradiction of the European Court Judgment against Ireland in 2007 and, if sustained, could lead to daily fines against Ireland.’

A 2007 court judgment found that Ireland has not properly assessed aquaculture operations that might impact on protected bird life as this is required even for renewals. The site at Ardmore Point, Kilkieran Bay, was licensed in 2002 without any assessment and abandoned in 2009 because of high sea lice levels and pancreatic disease. The licences expired in 2012.

FIE’s Report alleges that the Government is deeply involved in the renewed operations. ‘The company involved, Bradon Beo Teo., was established with Údarás na Gaelteachta, the State Regional Authority, direct funding of €750,000 in 2012.’ The group has provided an accountant’s report which shows that through direct shareholding and part ownership of other shareholders, the State through Údarás is the effective controller of the Company read full story / add a comment

We write to bring our concerns to you personally, resulting from media coverage on the 2nd December in the Irish Daily Mail Newspaper of the content of a working meeting dinner menu shared by yourself and President Shinzo Abe of Japan which seriously abused fisheries conservation measures.
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In the wake of Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Simon Coveney's upcoming decision on whether or not to grant the state agency for fishing and aquaculture in Ireland, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, licenses for fish farms in Galway Bay, Slow Food International has reaffirmed its position on intensive fish farms.

Slow Food does not consider open net pen fish farms an environmentally sound practice, Piero Sardo, President of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, confirms. "Open net pen aquaculture is not a solution to the problem of overfishing: It damages natural ecosystems on a local and a global level, including wild stocks, habitats and water quality. Feeding carnivorous salmon in farms means other wild species must also be harvested, resulting in a larger carbon footprint - since the fish feed must be fished, processed and transported". read full story / add a comment

The revised wind guidelines published today by the Minister for Environment do not address most of the key issues concerning windfarms and fail to provide any detail on the single issue of noise and flicker they do address

The document is described as a ‘work in progress’, with the details of noise yet to be settled.

These ‘details’ include special locations, the impact of cumulative noise, the noise prediction methods to be used, the inspection and monitoring regime on foot of complaints under EU regulations and any remedial actions. In fact, it is the type of insidious noise that is the issue for residents more than the level, which is all these Guidelines address. read full story / add a comment

This is just one of the hundreds of studies indicating that ingesting fluoride is deleterious to human health. Unnecessary and health-robbing fluoride chemicals are added to public water supplies because it satisfies the political will of powerful special interest groups. It's up to each of us to demand fluoridation be stopped. read full story / add a comment

The destruction of Kilkieran Bay and Bertraghboy Bay by our state. Nine new cages for Kilkieran Bay and 5or 6 for Bertraghboy Bay in Connemara and more to be added. You could practically walk to them from the shore and this is an SAC and SPA.

Again economically supported by Udaras na Gaeltachta and now run by a multinational salmon feed lot operator. Replacing salmon farms that never worked and got huge funding from Udaras na Gaeltachta in the past and this is a SPECIAL AREA OF CONSERVATION. It is a total disgrace. read full story / add a comment