County councils around Ireland have been felling hundreds of healthy roadside trees with no consultation and no prior notice to local residents according to numerous reports and photos like the one above from Waterford. It is claimed that this is at the behest of insurance companies and for fear of insurance claims.* Though statistics show that your chances of being killed by a falling tree in a public space are 1 in 20,000,000.* Dublin City Council's Tree Strategy notes roadside trees as being vital for many reasons. "Trees clean the air, provide natural flood defences, mask noise and promote a general sense of wellbeing. Within the higher density areas of the city trees have considerable beneficial impacts on the lives of those who do not have immediate access to other more traditional types of open space. Trees, for example, can add colour, interest and beauty to our busy streets. Within the city, urban trees contribute significantly towards many environmental and social benefits, such as journey quality, biodiversity, temperature regulation and habitat." Extinction threat: Over the past few decades we have lost 75% of all insect life globally. Recent research shows that insects in Ireland are dying off even faster than the alarming global average, for some species it's over three times as fast*. One in four of all species of wildlife in Ireland is also threatened with extinction. Without insects we will have ecosystem collapse and our ability to grow enough food to feed ourselves will be drastically affected. Trees support a multitude of the insect species that are under threat in Ireland. Oak trees support over *423 species* of insects and mites. Though it is unthinkable today, felling hundreds of healthy trees now is making it almost inevitable that crops will fail and we will experience food shortages in Ireland in the not so distant future. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/rigorous-policy-of-cutting-down-trees-prompts-protest-in-tipperary-1.3781964?mode=amp https://naturenet.net/blogs/2007/02/19/killed-by-a-falling-tree-what-are-the-chances/ https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/irish-butterfly-and-bumblebee-numbers-slump-905119.html http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/woodland_manage/tree_value.htm https://www.facebook.com/SaveIrelandsTrees/

Kinsale Habour is one of the jewels in the Wild Atlantic Way's crown, and among the most famous locations for tourists who appreciate the history, culture, and pristine environment. The area around the town is often speckled with sailboats, busy fishing vessels, marine life, and tourists. Kinsale is a community that looks to the future while maintaining a deep sense of connection to its roots, and it the people take great pride in their town and its surroundings. Now the town's habour is under threat from a toxic and disruptive form of aquaculture called mussel dredging, which recently left a region of the Dublin Bay smelling like corpses [1]. Outside of Ireland, mussel dredging has had equally devastating effects in places like Vietnam where local fishermen discovered that the seabed had become a "graveyard" [2]. The knock on effects that this sort of rancid activity could have on Kinsale's tourism economy would be devastating for the town -- and for so little in return. It's also well known that mussel dredging can wreak havoc on the marine life around it [3]. Unlike more sustainable mussel harvesting practices, mussel dredging disrupts all of the seafloor life around it, leaving little left but jellyfish. Dolores Smith, a Dalkey resident who runs an inshore fishing and boat-hire company, summed up the effects on her livelihood: "The damage caused by the dredgers is absolutely enormous, there are stretches of seabed that have been obliterated." Therefore, we are asking the Aquaculture Licensing office of the Department of Agriculture to deny all mussel dredging licenses in the Kinsale Harbour. [1] https://afloat.ie/port-news/fishing/item/34164-mussel-dredgers-leave-dublin-coastline-smelling-like-corpses [2] https://newsable.asianetnews.com/south/vizhinjam-dredging-seabed-turns-graveyard-for-mussels [3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267035134_Mussel_dredging_impact_on_epifauna

Part of the investment will include a tour "which will celebrate the life and times of Charles Stewart Parnell at Avondale House" This is a worthy and worthwhile initiative. On the other hand it could create a situation where 2 Irish women who did immense campaigning for Womens rights in Ireland Anna and Fanny Parnell get erased from history. Anna Parnell was an Irish nationalist who founded the Ladies Land League in 1880. The Ladies Land League took over the work of the Irish Land League when its male leaders were jailed. The Ladies Land League continued the Land League campaigns against landlordism in Ireland and was organised in 6 countries with 321 branches. Anna Parnell was its effective leader and lead it in many campaigns providing welfare and assistance to many Irish people. Fanny Parnell was an Irish nationalist and poet who wrote extensive about Irish nationalism and poverty in Ireland. She cofounded the Ladies Land League with her Sister Anna in 1880. In investing 8 million in a tourist attraction "which will celebrate the life and times of Charles Stewart Parnell at Avondale House" it is really important not to erase the important legacy of his Sisters. Pictures of Anna and Fanny Parnell above Further information on Anna and Fanny Parnell https://www.historyireland.com/home-rule/anna-fanny-parnell/ http://www.countywicklowheritage.org/page_id__93_path__0p3p.aspx

RTE allows the AA to broadcast its “Roadwatch” segment on national radio 150 times per week. This is deeply inappropriate and unethical and is in breach of RTE’s own rules on sponsorship. RTE must end the practice immediately. The AA is not an impartial provider of neutral information. It is a political lobbyist on behalf of the car industry - its primary function is to lobby Government. It is also a multi-national insurance company with annual revenue of over €1 billion. AA Roadwatch performs no useful function. It serves only as an advertisement for the AA and the normalisation of car culture. Its prevalence on the airwaves suggests sitting in daily gridlock is a normal and inevitable part of the human experience. Every day, numerous times an hour, our national broadcaster places the reporting of daily rush hour traffic next to news items of national and international significance. Besides the fact that the “service” provided by AA Roadwatch is of little or no value (“it’s slow but moving at the Jack Lynch Tunnel”), it is a clear breach of RTE’s sponsorship guidelines (sponsorship is defined a contribution made in return for promotion of the sponsor’s name). 1. No sponsorship of news programmes is allowed. 2. “A sponsor must not have any editorial input or involvement in programming” 3. “Any body whose intents are wholly or mainly political in nature may not be a sponsor”. RTE must end the broadcast of AA Roadwatch immediately. Many thanks to William Campbell of Here's How for his work on this. I highly recommend his podcast on this topic.

Imagine if Ireland was able to implement a single policy that could reduce traffic, combat climate change, let people take up jobs they couldn’t before, make life in rural Ireland easier and reduce the cost of living all at once. And it only took a year or two to get it up and running. It may sound too good to be true but free public transport could do all this and we want to pilot it in Galway during 2020. Dear Minister Ross, Minister Bruton, and Minister Donohue, We, the people of Galway, ask you to trial free-fare public transport in Galway during 2020. This a policy that has been piloted across Europe and is working. In Aubagne, a French city of 100,000 people, public transport ridership increased by 142% and car trips decreased by 10% once free public transport was introduced. Overall, there was a reduction in public expenditure per journey of 48% from €3.93 to €2.04. This policy of fare-free public transport could allow the following outcomes across Ireland: * Reduction in traffic and commute time in cities and counties * Reducing our climate emissions and contributing towards our stated ambition to make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change * Increased economic activity and lower social welfare costs through improved social mobility and access to jobs and lower cost housing * Improved rural mobility with better public transport options in rural Ireland * Reduced cost of living through lower fares and giving families the option of giving up second cars With Galway welcoming the world to the European Capital of Culture in 2020, and our well-documented traffic problems, Galway 2020 is the perfect place and time to pilot this policy. We respectfully request that the Department of Transport and Department of Climate Action would immediately begin design and costing a pilot for free-fare public transport in Galway during 2020 and that the Department of Finance would allocate for this pilot in the 2020 Finance Bill or as part of the Climate Action Fund. We would ask that this pilot allows for: * An increase in bus capacity in Galway city and county so that buses are more frequent and reliable * A redesign of the route network including multiple crossings of the bridges and avoiding all bus traffic going through the city centre * The addition of new buses designs with modern interiors (similar to BRT designs like Glider in Belfast) that make the bus experience more pleasant * A proper study of the economic, environmental and social outcomes of the pilot. We are available to meet with you at your earliest convenience to outline our request and work with you to make it happen. Yours sincerely, Galway Free Public Transport Campaign

In a 2008 native woodland survey conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Toon Woods, a patchwork mosaic of various woodland types, was deemed to be the highest scoring unprotected site in the country. Yet large swathes of these woods were destroyed under a felling license that has now been revoked. The Dept of Agriculture issued a replanting order in March 2019. Toon Woods contain one of Ireland's strongest surviving colonies of red squirrels, a much-loved protected species who lost their shelter and their winter stores in the felling. This sessile oak woodland, ecologically an extension of the Gearagh, is well-known to sustain other protected species. A nationally important lesser horseshoe bat maternity roost exists only a few hundred metres from the destroyed area, while the pristine Toon river provides habitat for freshwater pearl mussels, a red-listed species. One ecologist who visited the site noted the absence of infrastructure to prevent soil run-off into the Toon river, threatening the freshwater mussel which cannot tolerate silt, as well as the nearby Gearagh, a Natural 2000 site and Special Area of Conservation, into which the Toon flows. Malcolm Noonan has the power to confer full NHA status on the Toon woods, as was proposed by then Chief Scientist Dr John Cross in 2013, following a survey commissioned by NPWS. Climate change poses a major threat to our future well-being and the protection of our oak woodlands is essential if we are to create natural buffers to save our endangered native species. They account for less than 2% of our forests. We can do so much better. Most of Toon woods are still intact but they are in urgent need of your intervention. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/tree-felling-at-ireland-s-finest-undesignated-native-woodland-halted-1.3777868

This is important as we are losing our natural habitat to plastic. Our wildlife, marine life, our plantlife, our oceans, rivers .... our lives are awash with plastic. We must break the cycle and make the changes before it's too late.

Illegal dumping and burning of rubbish is a massive problem for rural dwellers. It’s unsightly and attracts rodents (in the case of dumping) and toxic, raising dioxin levels (in the case of burning). The policing and reporting of it is cumbersome, costly and ineffective. Make it a mandatory requirement. If you’re living in a home and producing waste you must have some legitimate means of getting rid of your waste, similarly for farms and businesses. If you’re using the municipal waste and recycling services then you should be able to prove it with receipts. I realise waste services are expensive but the rubbishing of rural Ireland is a disgrace.

There is an over-concentration of student and transient accommodation in the Dublin Inner City. With regards to student accommodation, the city development plan states that the planning authority “will have regard to the pattern and distribution of student accommodation in the locality and resist the over concentration of such schemes in any one area”. In Dublin 8 alone the total number of student bed spaces in schemes either already inplace, under construction, approved or proposed within 250 metres of the proposed Sweeney Corner development is 1058. Extending the radius to 1km brings the total to 3752 bed spaces. In addition to student bed spaces, almost exclusively all other development in the area are providing for transient accommodation. This includes hotels recently built, under construction of approved at Kevin Street (Maldron), directly adjacent at Mill Street (Aloft), the Coombe (Hyatt), Vicar Street and Newmarket, as well as Staycity aparthotels directly adjacent and approved for the Tivoli site on Francis Street. Finally, 2 other sites in the immediate vicinity of Blackpitts and Donore Avenue which have planning approval in place for an apartment and office scheme respectively, are now back on the market advertising their suitability for hotel and/or student accommodation. Although the application in question at Sweeney’s Terrace provides for a number of build-to-rent apartments, it is still primarily a development of student accommodation. At this stage, it must be considered that there is sufficient student accommodation in the area, and accommodation of a more permanent nature must be encouraged in order to provide an appropriate diversity of accommodation types.

Many schools, especially in the voluntary sector are underfunded and rely heavily on fund raising and voluntary contributions. Millions are being spent every year on sending pointless postage to teachers who either file the payslips away and never look at again or simply throw straight in the bin. This wastage needs to stop!

There are other compelling reasons for Parks Department of Fingal Council to develop this space for recreation use. They are: - provide green space for Balbriggan ETNS school, Foroige and afterschool - space for young people to hang out, instead of within the nearby estates - a minipitch/ multi use games area would nicely complete this space - minipitch/ games area would provide an asset to Fingal Council's Balbriggan Sports Hub, which is based at Flemington Community Centre - many estates in the surrounding area do not have green spaces within, so this space could be put to good use in day time and evening time hours Please sign and share with your friends and neighbours!

Grand Canal Docks SDZ Affordable housing project in jeopardy Part 5 social housing delivery will not be delivered on site and possibly not within the Dockland SDZ or greater Dockland area. The North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock SDZ planning scheme envisaged a model of sustainable inner-city regeneration incorporating socially inclusive urban neighbourhoods and by not delivering social housing on site or within the SDZ the spirit and the promise of the Docklands SDZ Scheme has been broken. “We have seen a lot of cranes in the Docklands but not a lot of homes. Particularly affordable homes.” ‘Affordable’ housing means different things in different places, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy says. Private developers must deliver affordable homes on lands benefitting from public funds. He added: “Affordable needs to mean affordable.” Economic recovery, and with it rising apartment costs, has had an impact upon “Part Vs”, to the legal rule that means developers have to sell 10 percent of homes in larger developments to the council for affordable housing, or make some equivalent arrangement. Part V: New developments are required to provide up to 10% of units (or equivalent land) for social housing to councils at ‘cost’. However, this has not resulted in any confirmed new social housing units in the SDZ (awaiting update from DCC), and to our knowledge none of the planned 2600 new residential units in the area are currently designated as social housing. Recently, DCC councillors have been informed that the costs of purchasing units in the Docklands area “well exceed the DPHCLG cost ceilings and are not deemed value for money”. Therefore, the City Council has determined that off-site provision (albeit in the ‘entire Docklands area’) be considered to comply with Part V. As a result, the local community has “lost out”, while developers in the Docklands are making an absolute fortune out of this site. Subsidised sites would always deliver affordable housing. Where significant public money is being brought to open up a site, affordability will have to be part of the negotiations. The North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock SDZ was made by the Elected Members of Dublin City Council in November 2013 and approved by An Bord Pleanála on the 16th May 2014 and will provide for 2,600 residential units and up to 360,000 sq. metres of office space, as well as retail, community and public amenity facilities which will create 23,000 jobs. If the SDZ were delivered under the proposed schemes, there would be 260 units available for the households eligible for these units. Funding is a major issue in relation to those social units. The theory is that DCC would acquire units at cost, rather than at market value. If 260 units were made available to DCC at an average cost of say €500,000, the total cost would be €130m. Can DCC realistically source funding of €130m from the DoHPLG?. The system as currently implemented appears to leave the balance of power with developers. Source: https://www.dublincity.ie/councilmeetings/documents/s21553/320%20DOCF%20Annual%20Report%202018.pdf Dublin City Council has said it prefers to take social housing on site, within the same complexes and estates as the private homes. But it is being priced out of the Docklands SDZ area, unable to purchase the homes on offer in new complexes there. In April, Executive Housing Manager Anthony Flynn said the council was talking to five developers about other options for how to get that Part V social housing. When councillors get updates about the Docklands, council planners often brush off queries relating to housing provision, Workers’ Party Councillor Eilís Ryan says. When they “are pushed on housing they don’t actually claim any responsibility for it”, Ryan says. Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) where a fast-track planning process allows developers to get planning consent within two months of application. Under the planning laws, Developer is required to provide 10 per cent of the apartments for sale to the council for social housing at a discounted price, if it secures planning permission. Changes made in 2015 mean councils can no longer take cash from the developer instead of social housing. Back in 2010 Mr Ahern said: “The fact that the Grand Canal Docks would be primarily used for housing met Government policy objectives to increase residential densities and provide social housing. Well done to the DDDA in the way social and affordable housing are an integral part of the plans. The Taoiseach also commended the authority for its commitment to a public procurement process in seeking joint-venture partners from the private sector, and said he was pleased it would be using its Section 25 powers to "fast-track" the development.” Progress to date The recent 2017 Review of the 2015 Dublin Docklands Social Infrastructure Audit 20151 very disappointingly demonstrates that in the past 3 years there has been little real progress on any of the social infrastructure recommended in the 2015 report. This situation, in the view of the Committee, is unacceptable and continues to fail to address Community needs. Instead large-scale office developments, and exclusive, gated residences have been progressed by commercial developers and have led to an environment that is not inviting to local residents. The Docklands Community requires that social infrastructure be prioritised immediately in order to maximise the sustainability and integration of the indigenous and new communities in the Docklands.