Fracking and drilling pollutes our water, and damages our health. It is expected that the petroleum licencing policy that Minister Lyons will propose to the Executive could open the door for the approval of outstanding drilling and fracking applications in Fermanagh, and in the five council areas of Belfast, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Mid Ulster, Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon, Lisburn and Castlereagh. There is no time for legislation to be passed on fracking and drilling in this Assembly term. It must be stopped at the Executive.

The Limerick Greenway, which opened in July and cost €10M euros, is now the most successful greenway in Ireland with over 250K visitors already. The greenway traverses a green plain under Rooskagh Hill. This region has huge potential for tourism and could create a multiple of the estimated 200 jobs created in Mayo on the back of their fabulous greenway. It is similar in size to Limerick and visitor numbers are comparable. A dual carriageway through the plain and the greenway will stunt any further growth in amenities and jobs. We believe Limerick County Council; Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport have chosen it not because it is the best route to alleviate traffic congestion in and around Newcastle West but purely because they think that it is achievable in the time frame that they must spend the funds promised and also allows them to circumvent future restrictions from the EU in relation to climate control. We want to raise awareness of this flawed decision and try and reverse it before it is too late. The process to date has evolved side by side with the Covid pandemic and the authorities have been able to move swiftly without entertaining any real democratic questioning. Zoom calls with pre-prepared scripts has been the order of the day. The whole planning, implementation and engagement of this process has been rushed and expedited. Most local politicians appear to be repeating the same mantra as the council and there is a clear democratic deficit here. It is left up to ordinary citizens to voice their concern through the media and other channels such as this petition. https://www.facebook.com/protectlimerickgreenway [email protected]

The more young people who sign in support, the more we can pressure our decision makers to implement these demands.

Big business are producing more, not less emissions and are making the climate crisis worse. Government decisions are letting them off the hook and pushing the burden for the climate crisis on to regular people, not the corporations who drive it.

82% of the Irish people support neutrality in all its aspects.

We need your support: Please sign the petition below! Finding it hard to sleep at night with light glare from street lighting coming into your bedroom? The County Council are going to be upgrading the current street lights in Cloughjordan village and will soon consult with the local community on the type of new lighting arrangements to install. This is your chance to have the kind of lighting you really want installed in your village. We aim to submit a letter to the County Council on behalf of people in the local community, to request that the Council: - Install lights with a warm (Amber) colour temperature with an upper limit of (no more than) 2700 kelvin. - Install light shields or hooded lights with more focused lighting, (thereby improving security by reducing glare through targeted lighting and reducing the impact of light pollution). Why are we making the above request? There is an opportunity here for Cloughjordan village to get smart, modern, high standard, well-designed lighting installed that reduces glare into our houses and bedrooms and yet still keeps our streets safe at night. The right kind of well-designed lighting can help reduce light pollution, helping to protect our health and that of the environment. The upper brightness limit we are asking for will be similar to the existing brightness level of the current sodium lighting on the main street but will have a softer effect as the new lighting will be LED, where 2700 kelvin is on the warmer scale of lighting. Also, if the lights are shielded, as we are requesting, the light is targeted to the ground where it is needed, and doesn’t get wasted in glare. This has been shown to improve security by eliminating the excessive glare that often ‘blinds’ people looking into overly bright street lighting. The truth is that better design equals better and safer lighting. Why be concerned about light pollution? Light pollution is Harmful for our health: Current scientific studies suggest that artificial light at night negatively affects human health by increasing our risks for sleep disorders, depression, diabetes and more. It is proven that artificial lights directly interrupt our circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions whilst we sleep: the sleep-wake cycle. Some of these processes include brain wave patterns, hormone production, cell regulation, and other biologic activities. Disruption of the circadian clock is known to have a significant correlation to several medical disorders in humans including depression, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Light pollution is harmful to nature: Plants and Animals depend on earth’s daily light and dark cycle to govern life-sustaining behaviours. For hundreds of millions of years, the web of life on earth has been dependent on day and night, light and dark. Research shows that artificial light at night has adverse and even deadly effects on many species. Researchers have already identified harmful impacts on a huge array of species including bats, insects, plants, fish, turtles, marine corals and even primates. Overlighting wastes energy we can’t afford to waste: It is estimated that at least 20% of light is wasted by unshielded and/or poorly aimed outdoor lighting which is about 3 billion euros per years’ worth of energy lost in sky glow. As much as 50% of outdoor lighting globally is wasted, which increases greenhouse gas emissions, contributes to climate change, and renders us all energy-dependent. To offset all that carbon dioxide, we’d have to plant about 875 million trees annually!

No Irish child should leave school without being able to cook for themselves. Otherwise, we are undeniably, failing in our duty of care to our young people. When you teach someone how to cook, you give them a gift that will forever enhance their lives. Our food choices affect our energy, vitality, ability to concentrate. Food affects our mental and physical health and is at the heart of the fight to tackle the climate crisis.

Eirgrid and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities have stated that if new data centres are built without new electricity generation and "demand side flexibility", we will have blackouts. The new generation being proposed is primarily fossil gas based. The flexibility being discussed is primarily through the data centres installing private fossil fuel generation (rather than batteries/other energy storage/ real time demand flexibility). We need to pause all new data centre development, and pause expansion of existing data centres, until we can guarantee that it will not cause new fossil fuel generation, ie it will not force the grid to procure more fossil fuel generation and infrastructure, and it will not involve data-centre-owned fossil fuel generation. We also need to call at EU level for all data centres to be located in places where it is feasible for the centres to be 100% renewable powered in real time (not through "guarantees of origin" / "green certificates"). Data centres consume a lot of energy, and there are a large number of new data centre proposals being made for Ireland. For example, the proposed data centre in Ennis would have a 200 MW load - equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 210,000 homes, which is the number of homes in Clare, Limerick and Kerry combined. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) recently issued a consultation paper recommending that data centres be obliged to adhere to “connection measures” (i.e. to be flexible in their timing of use of grid electricity), in order to prevent black outs. However, the paper fails to adequately address climate change, and fails to clearly distinguish between a) flexibility through storage, b) flexibility through matching real time electricity usage to the timing of the wind and sun, and c) flexibility through private data-centre operated fossil fuel generation. The first two are compatible with decarbonisation, the last is not. There are two big issues in electricity decarbonisation: increasing the quantity of renewables, and managing intermittency (e.g. energy storage and demand response). Quantity of renewable supply: We need a lot more renewable generation on the grid to replace existing fossil fuels and to enable transfer of heating and transport from fossil fuel to decarbonised electricity. Grid stability, storage and timing: Many renewables, such as wind and solar, cannot be timed or turned up and down at will. To avoid using fossil fuels as backup when there is low wind and sun, and to avoid wasting renewable energy when there is surplus supply from wind and sun, we need to use more when it is available and use less when it is not (i.e. real-time demand response), and we need to store renewable energy when it is available, for use when it is not. Just transition: We need to manage the transition to more renewables, better storage and timing of electricity use, in a way which prioritises essential needs and the most vulnerable, and uses the electricity we have more efficiently. Current data centre plans = more fossil fuel generation. Many current data centre plans, including the Ennis plan, involve either the data centre installing it’s own large-scale fossil fuel generation, or the grid being forced to procure fossil fuel generation to keep up with the data centre’s demand whenever it wants it. The greenwash trap. We need to be careful of data centres (and other businesses) claiming they are 100% renewable because they have purchased “guarantees of origin”/"green certificates". These are credits from renewable suppliers which are not even connected to the electricity grid the data centre is connected to, and which are not producing electricity at the time it is being used by the data centre. This is smoke-and-mirrors greenwash and doesn't do anything to prevent the Irish grid using fossil fuels. Instead, we need to focus on the "carbon intensity" of the grid they are using (the Irish grid), at the time they are using it. Carbon intensity means grams of CO2 equivalent emitted per kWh of electricity produced, and it can vary substantially according to the wind. Data centres should be required to use or store electricity when the carbon intensity is low, and minimise their use of the grid when there is a shortage of renewables like wind or solar. The true carbon intensity of electricity imports over inter-connectors should also be accounted for. Demands to data centres: Pre-conditions which should be set out for new data centre proposals or proposals to expand existing data centres: * No new fossil fuel burning infrastructure should be installed to power data centres, either on or off site, either owned and operated by the data centre owner/operator or otherwise * Data centres should be required to invest in renewable energy generation either on-site, or close by, on the grid it is connected to, and locate in places where it is feasible to generate sufficient energy from renewables. * Data centres should be required to consume grid electricity at times when there is plentiful wind or other renewable energy on the grid relative to demand, and not at other times, through investment in energy storage. * Data centres should not be allowed to run “mining” of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, which consume huge energy resources and have been banned in some jurisdictions already. * Data centres should be required to transparently report on the types of services they provide to different sectors for different purposes, and in the event of power shortages, be capable of rationing data centre services which are non-essential to society without shutting down essential services

For some years now, Fingal Council has shown very little interest in keeping a clean environment around the Broadmeadow Estuary catchment area. Volunteers in "Swords Pickers" were able to remove truck loads of dumped rubbish from Ward River Valley Park and Broadmeadow Estuary in the first half of 2021 alone. If something is not done to fundamentally correct this, plastic & other waste will continue to travel from the parkland in Swords, through the Estuary and out into the Irish Sea. Development of either the full size all-weather playing pitch and/or the Broadmeadow Greenway in 2021 will obviously add to the problem by multiplying volumes of human traffic.

The Limerick - Nenagh - Ballybrophy Railway is a vital piece of national rail infrastructure but it needs a more holistic approach to investment and upgrading in order to deliver a proper service that will attract passengers. Public transport throughout the Midwest region is not good enough. I would hope people throughout the Midwest and supporters of the rail network throughout Ireland would support our campaign. Our requests are not unreasonable, they are modest practical requests that would massively improve the services available on the line. Your support would be greatly appreciated.

The Hawthorn tree has been an important part of Irish life since time began and appears in many of our ancient legends and folklore. The haw, or fruit of the Hawthorn can be eaten and was often referred to as the poor man's apple or fairy apple possibly due to the fact it resembles a tiny apple. The connection to fairies continues with lone Hawthorns in fields being called The Fairy Tree and so being protected by the landowners. They also appear at many of the Holy Wells around the country. The Hawthorn is particularly spectacular in May/June when it is in full bloom and is a stunning feature on the landscape quite as spectacular as the Cherry Blossom is in Japan which is celebrated there and rightly so. We should honour the Hawthorn in the same manner. By acknowledging the Hawthorn we will keep the stories alive while also helping towards reminding us to protect our biodiversity as Hawthorns grow in our hedgerows and are home and food for many of our native creatures. By making it our national flowering tree we can educate our people on biodiversity, heritage and culture and use her beauty to attract visitors during the months of May and June.

Fashion chains are responsible for ensuring their workers are paid living wages, work in a safe environment and receive sufficient rest periods between work. However, fast fashion chains like Primark and H&M are notorious for sourcing their clothes from factories that provide none of the above. Dunnes Stores has a similar fast fashion model, yet unlike many other large retailers, has no information on its website regarding where it's clothes come from and how their garment workers are treated. The Clean Clothes Campaign estimates that garment workers in India and Bangladesh are paid, on average, 2-5 times less than is needed to live with dignity. Poor working conditions also endanger the lives of workers. In the case of the 2013 collapse of the Dhaka garment factory in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, over 1,000 people died due to shockingly poor implementation of building safety standards. Some of Dunnes' clothes are made in Bangladesh yet it was one of the few retailers who failed to sign the Fire and Safety Accord in 2013 to improve factory conditions in the country. The sustainability of fast fashion retailers is also coming under increased scrutiny as the climate crisis accelerates. The fashion industry produces 10% of the world's carbon emissions. Two key factors in this are clothes waste caused by excess production and use of unsustainable fabrics. Retailers like Dunnes must take responsibility for sustainably and ethically sourcing the clothes they sell. If not, we as consumers must hold them responsible for the sake of our future.