People Before Profit TD says Dáil debate on housing solutions should receive as much media attention as No Confidence drama

Grass-roots housing protest in Dublin today demands urgent solutions to housing and homeless crisis

In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD for People Before Profit said the Dáil debate on housing solutions should receive as much media attention as the Dáil no confidence debate in the housing minister earlier this week. read full story / add a comment

Award-winning group calls for scrapping of proposed planning restrictions
Justice must be ‘free, full, and speedy’

An award-winning environmental group has called for citizens to oppose the recently published Planning Bill 2019 which imposes further restrictions on the ability of citizens’ groups to bring legal actions before the Irish Courts. read full story / add a comment

Industrial peat extraction at risk as EU Court triples fines requested by Commission

Ongoing weekly fine of €100,005 by EU Court highlights ‘a matter of indisputable seriousness’

An angry European Court of Justice ruled today that Ireland’s conduct shows that it has ‘not acted in accordance with its duty of sincere cooperation to put an end to the failure to fulfil obligations’ under the EU Directive on Environmental Assessment.

The Judgment arose out of the failure to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for a windfarm in Derrybrien County Galway that led to a massive landslide on October 16, 2003 during which tonnes of peat were dislodged, polluting the Owendalulleegh River and killing 50,000 fish. read full story / add a comment

On Wednesday a Solidarity- People Before Profit Dáil motion will be debated to unblock over 50 opposition bills currently stuck in limbo because of the governments use of what is called ‘The Money Message’.

The motion which will be debated in the Dáil on November 6th would change current standing orders that govern the progress of opposition bills.

This motion will recognise the right of the Government of the day to have control, over the appropriation of public monies but it will stop the misuse of the constitutional clause that standing orders is based on. It will remove the use of incidental expenses and indirect costs of implementing a Bill from the reasons that the Government can impose a ‘Money Message’. read full story / add a comment

LEADING ENVIRONMENT GROUPS OPPOSE €7m DURSEY ISLAND MASS TOURISM PROJECT
Wild Atlantic Way ‘undermining quality and experience of Ireland’s wild coastal landscape’

An €7m Failte Ireland flagship project has attracted the opposition of three of Ireland’s leading environmental organisations.

An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland, and Friends of the Irish Environment have all submitted extensive objections to the application by Cork County in partnership with Fáilte Ireland to An Bord Pleanala for a €7m development on Dursey Island off the west Cork coast.

The current 6-person cable car is to be replaced by a state-of-the-art two-way cable car system capable of carrying up to 300 people each way every hour. The project includes an extensive Visitor Centre with restaurant and gift shop on the mainland. read full story / add a comment

The Palestine Podcast showcases a selection of lectures, talks and interviews featuring leading experts and social justice activists active on the Palestine-Israel issue. Brought to you by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. read full story / add a comment

Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has commented on the publication of the Department of Housing’s official homeless figures for September, which show for the 8th month in a row the number of people in homeless accommodation is over 10,000. read full story / add a comment

Minister urged to intervene to protect birds from €7m Dursey Island tourism development
Bird Study shows 30% decline in protected choughs

Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltachta Josepha Madigan, TD, has been asked to intervene on the proposed Dursey Island Cable Car and Visitor Centre Project in west Cork. read full story / add a comment

This is poem responding to Bloody Sunday 1972 and published in collection "Mac Baintrí - Widow's Son". (I have two other publications: Macalla Maidu(Coiscéim) and Sifting(Liberties Press)). I have copyright.

Relating material to Thomas Kinsella's "Butcher's Dozen" and Séamus Deane's response and certain other poets lack of response. read full story / add a comment

Dear Friends

A general meeting of IMPERO will take place on Saturday 12 October 2019 at 14:00. Fr. Stephen Duffy PP, Lordship and Ravensdale, has kindly given permission to use the meeting room in our Lady of The Wayside Church, Jenkinstown, Co. Louth, for our meeting. We will meet there.

Agenda

1. Read minutes of the previous meeting
2. Confirm officer board for 2019/2020
3. Sean Crudden will read his thread on the UNDP (United Nations' Development Program) Global Development Hub. The recent on-line consultation was around the question of digitalisation and the sustainable development goals of the UN
4. Equality
5. Finances
6. Fix dates and venues for meetings for the next year
7. Strategy

Due to unavoidable circumstances the meeting scheduled for mid-June was let slide but, hopefully, this will not happen again. The meeting on the 12th is important for IMPERO. It is also taking place at a time of universal change. Is there any way technology can be turned to the advantage of the mental patient?

The meeting is open to everyone. But, if you are coming to the meeting, let us know beforehand so that we can make proper provision for all those attending.

Yours faithfully

Seán Crudden
Secretary
IMPERO

Lower Jenkinstown
Dundalk
A91 A092

0858636391
read full story / add a comment

State faces further legal challenge to Shannon LNG terminal
Fracked gas as ‘Projects of Common Interest’ challenged

The State has been warned that it cannot approve the proposed Shannon LNG terminal as a ‘Project of Common Interest’ [PCI] without undergoing a Strategic Environmental Assessment [SEA] and a period of public consultation.

PCIs are key cross border infrastructure projects that link the energy systems of EU countries. They are intended to help the EU achieve its energy policy and the long-term decarbonisation of the economy in accordance with the Paris Agreement. read full story / add a comment

In the High Court today, Justice Garrett Simons granted Friends of the Irish Environment's application for a judicial review striking down regulations made by Ministers Eoghan Murphy and Richard Bruton in January which exempted industrial peat extraction from the planning system and granted them a period of unlicensed operation in the EPA licensing system. The Court found that the regulations were in breach of EU environmental law and were outside the powers of the Ministers who made them. read full story / add a comment

Saudi Arabia has just now begged Iran for gasoline after the sudden cut of Saudi domestic supplies due to the new Yemeni drone attacks on Saudi major oil facilities on Tuesday.Saudi was once the world's largest crude oil exporter read full story / add a comment

High Court refers case to Court of Justice of the EU over Irish Courts Service’s refusal to provide public access to litigation documents

Crucial point of transparency law will be determined by Court of Justice

A challenge regarding the Courts Service’s refusal to provide public access to litigation documents relating to a High Court environmental case that concluded in 2016 has been referred to the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg. read full story / add a comment

Focus Ireland has launched a new hard-hitting campaign to highlight the trauma that the deepening homelessness crisis is causing to nearly 4,000 children in Ireland.

The emotive campaign projects images of children who are homeless on to a number of landmark buildings in Dublin* to highlight homelessness and Focus Ireland’s 4 point plan to end the crisis.

The charity is running an innovative outdoor projection campaign to shine the spotlight on the growing crisis as the number of children homeless has shot up by a shocking 356% in five years (From 828 children homeless in Sept 2014 to 3778 in July 2019* ) read full story / add a comment

Shannonwatch are calling for an immediate review of the safety standards applied to US military and military contracted planes at Shannon Airport. A fire on an Omni Air International troop carrier brought the airport to a standstill on Thursday August 15th. This once again highlights the dangers posed by daily military traffic at a civilian airport like Shannon.

The troop carrier, which is reported to be carrying approximately 150 troops, was on its way to the Middle East. It had arrived earlier from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma USA. read full story / add a comment

With the release of first round CAO offers this week and the new academic year quickly approaching, tens of thousands of students across the country are beginning the search for a place to live. Against the backdrop of the housing crisis, this search has become a punishing and demoralising experience for many students – campus beds are limited in number, private rents are extortionately high and conditions are often cramped or otherwise inadequate. The lack of quality affordable student accommodation has been a serious problem for a number of years now but each year the scale of crisis grows. In 2015, a Higher Education Authority (HEA) report revealed a shortage of 25,000 student beds nationally whilst also predicting an additional 25-30,000 full time students by 2024. read full story / add a comment

Intensive chicken farming under scrutiny
Trans-boundary impact of factory farming highlighted in planning appeal

Residents of County Monahan are being left exposed to runaway intensive chicken factory farming as the Local Authority ducks and dives through the regulations meant to protect them, according to an appeal lodged against a planning permission for a 26,000 broiler unit recently approved by Monahan County Council.
read full story / add a comment

Butchery’ of protected woodland halted by National Parks and Wildlife Service

The National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS] has halted all felling in a private estate in County Longford on Friday evening after a report was filed by the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment.

The felling was taking place within an ancient forest which Minister Heather Humphries signed a Statutory Instrument in October 2017, completing the legal designation process as the Lough Forbes Special Area of Conservation. read full story / add a comment

Shock as ESB peat-powered plant at Shannonbridge refused permission by An Bord Pleanala

Cessation of use of peat as a fuel ‘key component within national climate and energy policy’.

An application under the Strategic Infrastructure Act for the continuation of the ESB’s peat powered plant at Shannonbridge, West Offaly, beyond 31 December 2020 has been refused by An Bord Pleanala. read full story / add a comment