With some schools with over 1,000 pupils this would seriously reduce the amount of plastic that is produced alco children spend almost 7 hours 5 days a week at school so if you make that time plastic free we'll....

We need a safe place for our children and adults to cycle on the road for commuting to school and work. This would also provide for recreational cycling and people to enjoy the coast in a safe and peaceful manner. At the moment there is no continuous safe cycling for people in DLR. Most people currently don't cycle due to the dangerous nature of the roads in DLR. This could provide an impetus for cycling with a link all the way from Booterstown to Sandycove. There's been talk of a cycleway along the coast for over 20 years and still no sign of it.

Better productivity. More efficient usage of time Employee satisfaction Lower unemployment rates And most importantly it is better for the environment as we won’t produce as much greenhouse emissions.

Our addiction to oil-based plastic is destroying the natural world and has become an existential threat to many species, including our own. Every day, around 8 million pieces of plastic drift into the world's oceans. There, they are often fatally ingested by marine animals, including sea turtles, whales, seals and seabirds. Around 100,000 marine animals and a million seabirds die annually from plastic pollution. Many of these species are now facing extinction due to human activity. Musgrave Group and Dunnes Stores, Ireland's two largest domestic retailers, can make a small but significant contribution to changing this narrative by refusing to use plastic packaging for their "own brand" food products. We call on them to do so for the long-term benefit of our communities, the natural environment and future generations.

Our addiction to oil-based plastic is destroying the natural world and has become an existential threat to many species, including our own. Every day, around 8 million pieces of plastic drift into the world's oceans. There, they are often fatally ingested by marine animals, including sea turtles, whales, seals and seabirds. Around 100,000 marine animals and a million seabirds die annually from plastic pollution. Many of these species are now facing extinction due to human activity. Musgrave Group and Dunnes Stores, Ireland's two largest domestic retailers, can make a small but significant contribution to changing this narrative by refusing to use plastic packaging for their "own brand" food products. We call on them to do so for the long-term benefit of our communities, the natural environment and future generations.

There are two species of seals in Irish waters, the grey and the harbour seal but in recent years Artic visitors such as bearded, walrus and most recently a hooded seal have arrived on our shores. We have many things to learn about how seals use our coastline and these species are protected under the Wildlife Act, 1976 and its amendments and the EU Habitats Directive as they are important indicators of ecosystem health. Indeed the recent sightings of such northerly species have been a cause for concern and it is of interest that we monitor such important indicator species in a time when the planet faces climate crises and is undergoing the 6th Mass Extinction. Read more here: https://www.orcireland.ie/call-to-cull-seals-in-irish-waters and here: http://www.ecoevoblog.com/2019/03/05/seal-cull/

It has been a devastating year for environmentalists and ocean advocates all over the world as Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on July 1st 2019 and re-commenced commercial whaling for the first time in over 30 years. For many years Japanese whalers hunted whales in Japanese and Antarctic waters under the guide if "scientific whaling", now although not fishing in protected waters of the deep southern ocean, they have began commercial hunting of whales in Japanese waters. In 2019, Japanese whalers killer 232 whales , including 187 Byrde's whales, 25 sei whales, and 11 minke whales. Despite global out-cry and a dwindling demand for whale meat consumption in the country, the Japanese government have now passed a law to fund commercial whale hunts and to promote the consumption of whale meat in schools, despite the meat being highly toxic and dangerous for human health. Read more: https://www.orcireland.ie/japanese-whalers-kill-223-whales-completing-their-first-hunt-in-over-three-decades Read more: https://www.orcireland.ie/japanese-government-to-fund-more-whale-hunts The slaughter of protected species like minke, Bryde's and sei whales are brutal and horrific, as whales are harpooned, sometimes with explosives. On contact with the animal, the harpoon spread open to prevent the whale from escaping and death is slow and excruciatingly painful. Whale populations around the world are facing a multitude of human impacts from plastic pollution to overfishing and entailments, the last thing the world's marine biodiversity needs is further over exploitation and abuse. Please SIGN our Petition to urge Japans Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe to STOP JAPAN COMMERCIAL WHALING to protect cetacean species in Japanese waters instead of slaughtering them for profit and boycott Japanese goods and services until they END WHALING. Please sign to urge Japans Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano to urge Japanese officials to END COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNTS in a bid to tackle the world's biodiversity loss crises! Join us for a protest outside the Embassy of Japan in Ireland, Dublin on February 13th to celebrate World Whale Day 2020.

Plans have been mulled for years to try to keep everybody happy. But an apparent solution made public in May 2019 includes removal of rows of trees, narrowing footpaths, interfering with historic bridge walls, and even the removal of some existing pedestrian crossings. And for what? The draft plans show a route which is not continuous, leaves people cycling exposed at junctions, and looks too narrow for current demand in cycling. Often a lack of funding is given as a reason for delaying projects, but the Liffey Cycle Route has mainly suffered an issue with “politics of space” — mostly a fear of removing cars from parts of the quays despite international examples showing that this is the way to go.  This is as much about what kind of capital city Ireland wants as it is about cycling: A car-dominated city centre or enabling sustainable transport which is better for transport capacity, health, the local air quality, and even climate change -- which is better for local residents, business, workers and tourism.   Cycling has increased in Dublin in the last decade but the creation of safe and attractive cycle routes has remained stalled long after economic recovery while at the same time extra lanes have been added to motorways near the city. Rather then keep spending years of planning each route, Dublin needs to start a quick-build network and there's no better place to start than the quays which connects so much of the city. We are asking that city and national authorities go back to the previous plan of continuous two-way cycle path on the quays to at least trial it for 8-12 months and then ask if people want to go back to the way things are now. MORE DETAILS:  How a two-way cycle path on the north quays can be trialed -- Can Dublin #GreenTheQuays if it means disrupting car traffic?: https://irishcycle.com/2019/08/06/can-dublin-greenthequays-if-it-means-disrupting-car-traffic/ How the NTA’s plan for the Liffey Cycle Route is on the wrong path for Dublin’s future: https://irishcycle.com/2019/05/22/liffey-cycle-route-is-on-the-wrong-path-for-dublins-future/ ‬ ‬ Motor traffic around Dublin's River Liffey quays shocked international cycling experts https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/09/motor-traffic-around-dublins-river-liffey-quays-shocked-international-cycling-experts/ Liffey Cycle Route: Timeline and coverage: https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/10/liffey-cycle-route-timeline-and-coverage/

Its extremely important that farmers take the time to sighn this petition , as I feel its the first step and only step in rectifying the great imbalances that farmers are experiencing, when we as independent farmers elect our own representative to hold position as minister for agriculture, then we as a farming community can work towards resolving farmers issues re instating farmers rights equality something that is being rashioned at present, we can resolve the great imbalances being experienced

We need to stop the industrialisation of Irelands rural landscape, noise pollution, damaging our historic townland's, natural heritage, environment, rural communities health and causing property devaluation.

Transportation powered by gasoline and diesel fuel is America’s single biggest source of carbon emissions, contributing to warming temperatures on land and in the oceans, resulting in unprecedented natural disasters. Extracting, transporting, refining and using oil and gasoline causes harm to people, air, water, land, animals, and plants. Gasoline vehicle exhaust pollutes the air, causing asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, dementia and thousands of premature deaths each year. Vehicle exhaust affects children, disadvantaged communities and communities of color the most, with disproportionate health, financial and quality of life impacts. In the past, we adopted reasonable vehicle regulations to require seat belts, airbags, catalytic converters, unleaded gas and other improvements to protect health and safety. It’s time to act again. Electricity is already viable as a clean alternative to gasoline. Costs to fuel and maintain an electric vehicle are already cheaper than for gas cars, and electric vehicle sticker prices are forecast to be cheaper by the mid 2020s. To protect public health, clean the air, slow a rapidly warming climate, and promote economic and environmental justice, we call on our local, state and federal government officials to ensure that, starting in 2030 or sooner, all new vehicles sold are clean, zero emissions vehicles, not gasoline or diesel vehicles.

VERY IMPORTANT to stop this legislation by Minister Murphy as it will effect our ability to take a court case/ judicial review. Environmental groups outline shock at proposed planning Bill. Proposed legislative changes would make it almost impossible for citizens and environmental groups to challenge poor planning decisions in the courts. Ireland’s leading environmental coalition is shocked at the Minister for Housing’s attempt to introduce new planning legislation that would make it near impossible to challenge planning decisions in the courts and hold public authorities and the Government to account. The Environmental Pillar – a coalition of national environmental organisations – learned over the weekend of worrying developments with the Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019 that is being brought forward by Minister Eoghan Murphy TD. In sum, the proposed Bill will add numerous challenging requirements and restrictions that will make it very hard for ordinary citizens and environmental NGOs to achieve the necessary “standing” to take cases. The changes proposed in the Bill would also add to the complexity of the court process and increases the risks of exposure to significant costs to those seeking to challenge bad planning decisions. This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people, their organisations, and environmental NGOs to challenge bad environmental decisions. Those changes were already long overdue and necessary to comply with EU law and the Aarhus Convention. The Heads of the Bill sent to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Housing, Planning and Local Government last week are very blunt that the proposed changes are designed to make it more difficult to engage in the legal process and appears to favour developer’s interests at the cost of environmental rights. The most worrying aspects (some of which are further explored below) of the proposed Bill are: • Complete change to existing cost rules for environmental cases from a system where costs should “not be prohibitively expensive” to a cost cap rules system with court discretion. This exposes the public and eNGOs to much higher costs and uncertainty, ensuring that many will be dissuaded from bringing a case in the first place and makes it harder to engage lawyers • Change in standing rights requirements for applicants from “sufficient interest” to “substantial interest” and a requirement that they must be “directly affected by a proposed development” and “in a way which is peculiar or personal”. This is in addition to a new requirement that the applicant must have had prior participation in the planning process. • Extension of the minimum time that an NGO must be in existence before it can challenge a planning decision from 12 months to 3 years, thereby essentially ruling out newly established citizen-led NGOs concerned with local environmental issues from bringing challenges • Insertion of a new requirement that NGOs must have a minimum of 100 affiliated members, thereby ruling out the vast majority of Irish groups from bringing challenges. • Increased requirements for the “leave” stage (where you get court permission to challenge). The Heads of the Bill propose going back to the abandoned “on notice” system and adding to the tests and complexity of the leave – this adds to the costs, duration and difficulty of court proceedings. “This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people and small but committed environmental NGOs to legally challenge bad environmental decisions, without fear of incurring eye-watering costs and extensive obstacles to accessing justice.” “The explanation for the Bill is blatant about making it harder to challenge decisions, with the Department arguing that challenges cause delays. It is bad decisions, and flawed legislation however, that are the real issue driving litigation in this country and this Bill does nothing to address that. “Given the context of costs in our Irish planning system, the size and nature of organisations and the costs in our courts, this Bill is an extermination of environmental democracy and oversight. It is particularly chilling that it comes at a time when environmental protection has never been more important, and citizens and groups are mobilising in a powerful Green Wave given the endless failures of this Government and administration.