Coillte proposes to build 7 colossal wind turbines on the slopes of Mt Leinster, adjacent to a Special Area of Conservation. With a proposed height of 178m, significantly higher than any existing turbine in the region, this scale is normally placed offshore. There has been inadequate public consultation about this wind farm proposal and the majority of the local community are unaware of it. As local representatives, we urge you to safeguard this visually sensitive and ecologically valuable area and to protect our natural heritage for future generations. We appeal to you to collaborate in order to save Mt Leinster and the Blackstairs by taking the following measures: 1. Suspend the current windfarm planning application process until circumstances allow for appropriate public consultation. Coillte’s planning strategy has deprived the local and wider community of their right to engage in meaningful participation. 2. Introduce an immediate moratorium on new wind farm developments pending updating of the outdated 2006 national wind energy guidelines. 3. Strengthen County Carlow’s Wind Energy Strategy (WES) by making Mt Leinster and The Blackstairs a “No Go” area for windfarm development and industrialisation of any sort. 4. Strengthen legislation to protect our biodiversity and our Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). 5. Protect and preserve our wild places. • This proposed windfarm would destroy the Mt Leinster region and have a hugely negative impact on local tourism. Mt Leinster attracts locals and visitors from all over the country to its mountain wilderness. They engage in all sorts of activities from strolling along the beautiful country lanes in the unspoilt rural foothills of south County Carlow, to hillwalking, mountain biking, paragliding, kite flying, eco trailing, foraging and birdwatching. - The proposed turbines would be directly in front of the Nine Stones, a designated protected viewing point. The wonderful panoramic vista that currently greets visitors would be replaced by the sight, sound and flicker shadow of these massive industrial turbines, which would totally dominate the landscape. - The turbines would be seen from many scenic trails in Ireland’s Ancient East including The South Leinster Way, The Mount Leinster Heritage Drive, The Sky Road and newly launched Turas Columbanus part of the Europe-wide Columban Way. • With the exception of a small group of local landowners who were briefed in Oct 2019, there has been no public consultation by Coillte. Notwithstanding Covid 19 restrictions, there was no dissemination of information by any means for over a year. - An online information site about the proposed windfarm only went live at the end of Nov 2020 - see www.croaghaunwindfarm.ie approximately 9 days before the planning process began. - The distribution of an information brochure, only circulated in the first week of Dec 2020, was limited to houses within 2km of the proposed windfarm. • Of additional concern is the proposed access route for transport of building materials from Bunclody to Mt Leinster. This route runs through an area of outstanding natural beauty comprising narrow country roads, lined with ancient hedgerows and granite stone walls. They represent a rapidly vanishing aspect of our built and natural heritage. Once destroyed they can never be replaced. Coillte state that they will “temporarily upgrade” this road in order to facilitate transport of oversize loads, which would include 110M columns and 65M rotor blades. • The windfarm would also have a detrimental ecological impact. The Blackstairs contains a vast SAC, a designation which protects endangered habitats and biodiversity. The proposed windfarm site is just 400M from this SAC boundary. Only 13% of Ireland has SAC status. In this time of biodiversity crisis it is profoundly ecologically unsound to build an industrial wind farm so close to an SAC. - The proposed construction site is partly comprised of blanket bog. The recent catastrophic bogslide in Donegal demonstrates the devastating environmental destruction wreaked by inappropriate windfarm planning on bogland. • The new climate emergency bill has identified offshore wind energy as the most efficient solution to Ireland’s climate crisis. Our government has committed to the rapid development of this technology early next year. - It makes no sense to put gigantic and environmentally destructive wind turbines on land in one of the most scenic parts of Ireland when a much more efficient and environmentally sensitive technology will be available offshore in the near future. • Carlow’s WES describes the Mt Leinster/ Blackstairs region as unsuitable for windfarm development because of its value for tourism, the high quality of its scenery and the sensitivity of its landscape. - This same strategy states that Mt Leinster and 14 other areas across the Blackstairs are still “open for consideration” for windfarm development. - This anomaly needs to be addressed - if planning permission is granted for this windfarm it will set a precedent and create the potential for the proliferation of windfarms throughout The Blackstairs. • Currently there are very few wind turbines on the Carlow Blackstairs, but the NW corner of the Wexford Blackstairs is saturated with them. - Wexford’s WES has responded to this by making the Wexford Blackstairs a “ No Go area" for windfarms. - Can Carlow County Council collaborate with Wexford County Council and treat The Blackstairs mountain range as a single entity and protect it accordingly? • Mt Leinster and the Blackstairs have escaped the industrialisation that has blighted so many other parts of rural Ireland. Wild unspoilt places are few and far between. Once lost they are gone forever.

In 2020, Climate Case Ireland took the Government to the Supreme Court for failing to act on climate change - and won. However, the fight for climate justice isn’t over. Ireland’s Climate Bill 2020 threatens to undermine the impact of the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Climate Case Ireland and creates a legal framework so weak as to be incapable of enabling the urgent action needed. The Climate Bill must be revised to protect the historic Supreme Court judgment and ensure that Ireland finally adopts legislation which has climate justice, a just transition, and a clear commitment to remaining below +1.5°C as its central organizing principles. Sign your name to let the Government know they must fix Ireland’s Climate Bill! #FixThe Bill 1. Learn from Climate Case Ireland: Climate Case Ireland successfully challenged the Government’s 2017 National Mitigation Plan on the basis that the Government had failed to specify how it would achieve the objective of the original 2015 Climate Act within section 4(2)(a). The re-drafted 2020 Climate Bill makes changes to reduce accountability such as: a. Removing and replacing section 4(2)(a) of the Act. To preserve the effect of the Supreme Court's judgment, section 4(7), as inserted by the Bill, should be deleted or amended to be "without prejudice" to section 4(6); b. Requiring the government only to “pursue” the 2050 goal rather than “pursue and achieve”; the latter was the phrase used in the 2015 Act and in the previous Government’s 2019 Heads of Bill; c. Use of weak, permissive language to reduce legal accountability, such as “have regard to” and “in the opinion of the Government/Minister”; d. The Bill no longer refers to achieving an “environmentally sustainable economy”. This should be reinstated. 2. A 2030 Target: The National Climate Objective should reflect an explicit commitment to complete decarbonisation (not “net-zero”)* by 2030 at the very latest and an equitable and scientifically sound commitment to remaining below +1.5C (*zero energy emissions combined with nature-based solutions that enhance biodiversity to sequester carbon from sectors where some emissions remain inevitable). The Bill should include a ratchet mechanism empowering the Minister to bring forward the decarbonisation year and interim targets, which are needed in the Bill. 3. Climate Justice and Just Transition: Decarbonising Ireland’s economy in a decade will not be easy. The principles of climate justice and just transition should be defined and should include the principle of a progressive distribution of the financial burden of climate mitigation and adaptation measures. These must be the central organizing principles of the Bill, with clear accountability mechanisms. 4. Reliance on undeveloped and untested technologies: The Bill should aim for complete decarbonisation by 2030, rather than a ‘climate neutral economy’ – the Bill currently implies large-scale use of unproven CO2 “removal” technologies. 5. Interim targets: The Bill’s carbon budgets should be pegged to interim targets that will put Ireland on a pathway to a decarbonisation target year of 2030. 6. 7% not enough: The Programme for Government commitment to reduce emissions by 7% a year on average over the next decade is not enough to make a fair share contribution to keeping global temperature rise below +1.5°C. 7. Strengthen language: The requirement to ‘have regard to’ should be strengthened to ‘consistent with’ in relation to: a. The objective of the UNFCCC and the temperature limits specified in the Paris Agreement b. Fulfilling the principles of climate justice and just transition; c. Fulfilling the objectives of the National Biodiversity Action Plan and the Aarhus Convention. 8. Legal accountability needs to be built in throughout the Bill: Carbon budgets should be legally binding, and all activities undertaken by public bodies, Government departments and private industry should be consistent with the carbon budgets. Failure to remain within the carbon budget limit should be met with clear sanctions. 9. Obligations on public bodies: all public bodies should be required to carry out their duties in a manner ‘consistent with’ the temperature limits and principles of the Paris Agreement. 10. Reparations: Financing emissions reductions efforts overseas alongside the provision of technological support should be viewed as reparations for harms done due to climate change under the Loss and Damage mechanism. 11. Include emissions from international aviation and shipping. 12. Impact assessment and reporting: All plans, projects and programmes should be assessed for their full climate impacts including non-territorial emissions. The EPA should be tasked with monitoring and reporting on “consumption emissions” in addition to territorial emissions. 13. Fossil fuel infrastructure and fracked gas: The construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure and the re-permitting of existing infrastructure should be prohibited by the Bill, including for example liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas-fired power plants and storage facilities. We also call for the insertion into the Bill of a section amending the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960 to prohibit the importation or sale of fracked gas. 14. Actively disseminate information on the functions of public bodies under the Bill & guarantee public participation. 15. Provisions relating to the Climate Change Advisory Council should be amended to: a. Replace voting ex-officio members with independent experts in industrial relations, law and social justice b. Ensure the Council is adequately resourced, gender balanced, and inclusive of directly affected interests (eg youth and migrants from worst impacted nations), c. Be tasked with regular reporting on whether current policies and plans represent “progression” and Ireland’s “highest possible ambition” (Paris Agreement).

All citizens have the right to buy clothing. This is particularly important for children. Clothing is a basic necessity and right. Parents expecting babies are entitled and should be able to buy the clothes they need for their children. Parents have the right and should be able to buy clothing and shoes for their growing children. Parents should be able to buy coats and weather appropriate items for their children.

At a time when biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate, instead of this ludicrous scheme and bowing to lobbyists for profit, there should be increased protection for all wildlife and promotion of veganism. Fish stocks have been depleted due to overfishing and not giving time for regeneration, which are the actions of humans, not seals.

Help us protect and improve public transport & infrastructure for future generations.Engage in a multi-year process of improving services to make rail transport a successful transport option in the South East of Ireland.

In Ireland our individual ecological footprint is approximately 5.2 Global Hectares per Capita (ghc) but the Planet’s actual capacity is only 1.8 ghc: we are living as if there are almost three Planet Earths. This way of life is not only contributing to mass extinction, pandemics and extreme economic inequalities, it means that, in all likelihood, our country will be uninhabitable for our grandchildren. A One Planet Development scheme would give people the option of moving out of the city and into the countryside to pioneer a way of life that goes some way towards bringing the human-nature relationship back into balance. It would allow people to build small low-impact dwellings, to establish community and to work with the land in a regenerative way to bring systemic change to our food systems.

In these times of Covid19 this will also help people to commute, get to school and exercise safely. Will provide a much nicer environment for the people in Sandymount similar to what has happened in Blackrock and DunLoaghaire. Will mean an end to the traffic jams we're seeing at rush hour. Will provide almost continuous cycle track along the south Dublin coast from Sandymount to Sandycove allowing kids, families and older people to move about safely.

Covid 19 infection rates are rising again. The crisis is not over and requirements for social distancing are still vital. Any removal of mobility measures designed to facilitate safe movement into the city is dangerously premature. Shannon Bridge is a crucial transport corridor for schools. Over 3,500 children will soon travel to schools directly served by Shannon Bridge. Provision must be made for safe active travel to these schools. This is mandated by the National Transport Authority, Green Schools Ireland, and the Department of Education; The Department of Transport guidelines state 'use public transport only for essential journeys, walk or cycle if possible.' The COVID-19 Response Plan by the Dept. of Education for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools states 'promote alternative means for children to get to school in a safe way, including walking, cycling and more generally in reducing the impact on public transport'. (July 2020). The Green Schools Plan 'An Ideas Document for Safe Access to Schools' also reiterates the need to prioritize active travel, including walking and cycling, and suggests the implementation of 'a cycle bus or walk-and-stride facilities'. (July 2020). In installing a cycle lane to provide safe travel for cyclists and a safer passage for pedestrians along the pathway- now insulated from motor vehicles- the Council has acknowledged the need for such infrastructure. Removal of such infrastructure is a retrograde step for the Council, when other local authorities across the country are introducing cycle infrastructure to support people who cycle and those that want to cycle but feel its unsafe to do so due to fear of accident, driver hostility and current route layout. Up to 40 children and parents from the Cycle Bus (which serves 2 primary schools in the city centre) use the inbound lane to cross the Shannon each morning on route to school and work. Before the lane was opened exclusively to cyclists and pedestrians, these children shared a lane of traffic with cars, vans, buses and HGV’s on a daily basis. It was, all would agree, the most unsafe aspect of the Cycle Bus’ journey each morning. If Limerick wants to support the increasing numbers of people cycling, then the Council must support 'people first' measures like maintaining a safe segregated cycle lane on one of our bridges.

Our industry moves Ireland , school children,Airports, train stations ,Ports ,Government Departments infant when groups of people need to be moved around we are the industry that does it . We are the ones that move Ireland with out us no one gets to their destinations in one vehicle . Our full size bus takes 6 cars of the road for every full size Coach .We transport school children on a daly basis .Our precious daily cargo is people dont wait till its to late when the operators are no longer in business . School transport have been totally ignored in relation to getting back on the road and having extra cleaning time cleaning equipment and not funding. Refund on vehicles that have been parked up since March on road tax,cvrt or extenstions Allowing this industry claim vat on all business like our counter parts in Northern Ireland.

Please support the permanent pedestrianisation of New Street, Malahide. At the moment a 10 week trial is in progress to guage the pros and cons of this measure. Some businesses have mounted an energetic campaign to return New Street to it's former position as a car dominated hostile space for human beings. Don't let them win! If this is reversed, it will be a major setback to efforts to provide livable and walkable communities for all of us.

This Global Public Benefit Manifesto for the Roscam Peninsula, if well executed, will lead to the preservation & restoration of the National Monument and preserve the surrounding pastoral landscape of this Bronze age settlement and create an iconic “Sustainable by Design” Culture, Heritage, Arts and Theatre experience embedded within a dramatic natural seaside parkland setting. This can be a cornerstone Galway 2020 Legacy Project to mark Galway's year as European City of Culture

The Covid crisis has shown that recreational space in rural Cork is scarce and this is especially true for the Cork-Bandon-Skibbereen area. But with quiet roads, more people were out cycling and walking than ever before, showing how eager we are to take up active travel. Let us build the infrastructure to support it. In Ireland, we are already seeing the effects of the next crisis we have to face: The climate crisis needs bold and quick action. This is a unique opportunity to support a shift in transport modes for Cork commuters while also creating recreation space close to the home of thousands of people. With electric bikes becoming more easily available, cycling is quickly gaining attraction as an affordable, accessible and healthy alternative to the commute by car. By providing an infrastructure separate from the N71 we would not only provide a safe route for cyclists. Motorists would profit from this change, too: By reducing the number of cars on the road we would improve traffic flow and move cyclists - often seen as obstacles by motorists - off the road. The more extensive the greenway, the more likely it will also have a positive impact on tourism, with knock-on effects for local businesses. We know how many people use the Waterford greenway and the positive effects it has on the region. By contributing to Irelands cycle network we could even attract international active tourism. As a historic railway, the touristic value of the greenway would be priceless. With many of the structures still intact the former railway would itself be an attraction. We do understand that there have been prior attempts at this undertaking that have been dismissed or delayed due to the costs involved. However we would like Cork County Council to address this with the same urgency, the dedication and the budget they would use for a motor-traffic-centered infrastructure project. This is one of the bold actions required to prepare Cork County for the future. There has also never been more funding made available for active travel than ever before. The investment would benefit a very broad set of people, including motorists. We would like Cork County Council do address this project as a matter of priority.