Clare County Council has developed a strategy to develop Ennis and set up a company, Ennis 2040 DAC, to implement it. The strategy aims to enable Ennis to prosper as a vibrant civic, commercial, cultural and residential centre. We support these aims but NOT the project they are starting on now - a multi-storey commercial block on Abbey Street car park and a later project for two commercial blocks on Parnell Street car park. We ask Clare County Council to stop the plan to build on our riverside car parks because: • It removes car parking that our businesses and mobility impaired people need – a vibrant town needs vibrant businesses • It is a speculative development for high cost office and large retail that could end up as a white elephant in a prime location • It hands valuable open public space to private interests, space that is ideal place for our community to gather and enjoy river and town views • This generic development in the heart of the town could destroy what people love about Ennis - a medieval town with narrow, winding streets and laneways with the beautiful river Fergus meandering through it We ask Clare County Council not to transfer this public property to Ennis 2040 DAC, a company that can sell it on without consent by the county council or councillors. There are many vacant sites that exist in Ennis that are ideal for regeneration and development. We ask Clare County Council and Ennis 2040 DAC to focus on these. Do you want large private buildings on our riverside car parks? If not, please sign our petition and share it with others who also want to stop this madness. You can also sign this petition in person at many of the businesses in Ennis Town Save Ennis Town is a group drawn from the general public including community, business, retail and political representatives. It formed after a public meeting on 4th May 2023 in the Temple Gate Hotel with over 200 people, all concerned about elements of the Ennis 2040 plans. We aim to have constructive engagement with Ennis 2040 DAC and develop a plan that will enhance our town for everyone.

Trees are essential to our existence. They provide us with oxygen, reduce carbon and give life to the world's wildlife. Saving our trees will reduce greenhouse gases, protect our wildlife and bees, and make sure our environment and communities can be enjoyed by future generations.

Keem bay is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world but despite that there is no plan for sustainable tourism. This is putting Keem at risk. There should be no campfires allowed as they are destroying the land and risking a large fire taking off in the area. Also, there should be staff employed to enforce this and clean up the beach after every day. Yes, it would be perfect if people cleared away their own rubbish but that doesn’t happen so the council needs to come up with a plan. Keem brings in thousands of tourists to Mayo every year and yet there is no effort to protect it from the impact of that many people lighting fires and leaving rubbish.

If we don't speak out, nothing will change. The Earth is now on a trajectory towards total ecosystem collapse. How far along that trajectory it goes depends on us, on the actions we take. Ireland is failing miserably at cutting it's carbon emissions and protecting its environment. It beggars belief that that the native tree stocks in our hedgerows are not currently being safeguarded, and are allowed to be decimated at a such a rate. It's time to take a stand, join me.

Disposable Vapes are a product that have surged in popularity in recent years. These products are a threat to: 1. Public Health - With disposable vapes nicotine is delivered through an aerosol vapor which has been shown to have inflammatory effects on the respiratory system. As well, experts have warned of the potential of disposable vapes to act a gateway for smoking, especially for young people and adolescents. 2. The Environment - Disposable vapes are single-use items that contain plastic, electronics, and lithium-ion batteries. Disposable vapes are more frequently becoming a source of litter on our streets. This can result in harmful waste materials, such as mercury and cadmium, being leached into our environment, negatively impacting human health and biodiversity. These risks are simply not worth the convenience of a single use product! 3. Waste of Valuable Resources - The opportunity cost of global disposable vape production for the green economy is massive. The very materials such as lithium and copper are the precious materials needed for greener technology. It is estimated 90 tons of lithium and 1,600 tons of copper were used for the global production of disposable vapes in 2022. To put this into perspective, this amount of lithium is equivalent to the amount needed to produce 11,000 electric vehicles and is enough copper for 1.6 million electric vehicle charger units So let's put an end to the madness that is disposable vapes. Let's protect our health, our young people and our environment. Sign the Petition! Interested in reading more, check out the following source: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/minister-defends-plan-to-ban-disposable-vapes-theyre-making-the-world-worse/42071990.html https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/new-laws-to-ban-sale-of-vaping-products-to-under-18s/42141930.html https://web.archive.org/web/20220718111558id_/https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/378/bmj-2021-065997.full.pdf https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325

We're calling for Dublin City Council to take part in #NoMowMay and cease mowing the grass of parks and green spaces during the month of May to support wildlife. Why DCC should take part in #NoMowMay: - Pollinators, like bees and butterflies, are the backbone of a healthy ecosystem. They rely on early flowering plants such as daisies, dandelions, and other wildflowers as a valuable source of nectar. - The longer grass provides welcome cover for foraging wildlife such as birds and hedgehogs, as well as a wide variety of insects to snack on. - A healthy lawn with long grass and wildflowers can help in the fight against climate change by absorbing pollution and locking carbon away in the soil. Dublin City Council has signed up for the All-Ireland Polinator Plan which recommends reducing mowing to 5 times a year (Once in mid April and then not again until end of May) but this clearly is not being observed. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan notes reducing mowing as the most cost effective and impactful way to provide food for pollinators and other insects. Visible improvements have been made by DCC in parks around the city to encourage biodiversity and this is welcomed and appreciated! All we ask is that DCC ease up on mowing wherever possible to give our vital pollinators the best chance at survival. Further reading: Why bees matter? Bees are the most important pollinator of crops and native plant species in Ireland. They are a key component of our wildlife and one of the busiest, least appreciated work forces we have. A study from the Department of the Environment found that bees are worth €53m a year to the economy. In Ireland crops such as apples, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, blackcurrants, peppers, courgettes and pumpkins are reliant on bees for pollination. It is estimated that almost three quarters of our wild plants rely on insect pollinators, of which bees are most important. But bees are declining at a record level in Ireland. Due to habitat loss and the use of pesticides more than half of Ireland’s bee species have undergone substantial declines since 1980. The distribution of 42 species has declined by more than 50%. (Source: pollinators.ie) All-Ireland Polinator Plan: https://pollinators.ie/no-mow-may/ All-Ireland Polinator Plan for councils: https://pollinators.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Councils_actions-to-help-pollinators-2018-WEB.pdf

Widening the Douglas Road will destroy the local environment, heritage and character of this historic Cork road forever. There are much cheaper, faster and greener ways to improve public and active transport than this proposal. It will not only reduce the quality of life for many residents in the area, but also for those who use the Douglas Road. When there is more congestion around Douglas Village and on the side roads (as the plan doesn't help parents who bring children to school in the area), we will wonder why we let it happen. There will be no going back once the mature trees and walls of architectural heritage are torn down. Destroying the road is not the solution - there are alternatives. Road reallocation, school bus services etc. Please help us in our campaign to save the Douglas Road

The Columban Way is a rural community driven project focused on connecting communities using low impact walking tourism to provide socio-economic opportunities where large ticket tourism offerings are scarce on the ground. The project is staffed through 100% volunteering with support from Carlow County Council, Carlow Tourism and Failte Ireland. With your support we will be able to continue our work towards Bangor, Co. Down and through Europe to Bobbio, Italy.

Waste management companies are profiteering from the waste management crisis. Waste bin charges are being hiked and this is making it even harder for struggling households. Instead we should have publicly owned waste services.

What can be done? Kiltalown and Jobstown Parks and playground should be beautiful public spaces which the community and surrounding areas could be free to utilise. These public spaces require investment in resources to improve the facilities to allow these parks/playgrounds to be opened to our communities all year round. We are campaigning for: - Proper lighting to be installed within the parks/playground to increase community activity. - More facilities such as park benches and exercise equipment. - Our playground for the children of our communities upgraded and re-opened - Extend the paved walkways and incorporate the stream in kiltalown park. This would allow for a section of the park to be rewilded and would be a great asset for our local schools in order to have nature walks on our doorstep. - In other parks South Dublin County Council have invested vast amounts of funding and programs while failing to invest in our parks in South Tallaght, we demand our fair share of that funding and investments. - Park rangers also to discourage any inappropriate behaviour so that the parks/playground are used in a positive way, so people have a greater sense of security and these community areas attract more users.

An equal society is a better society for everyone.

A healthy ocean means thriving wildlife, sustainable fisheries, and livelihoods for fishers, but a proposal to rewrite EU fisheries rules threatens to undermine all of this by legalising overfishing on a massive scale. It would allow dramatic underreporting of catches(1), but Minister McConalogue can prevent it from going ahead. This relaxing of the rules has been tried before, in the Baltic Sea(2), where it contributed to the collapse of vital fish populations and “incentivised” hidden overfishing(1). The biggest benefits would go mostly to vast supertrawlers like the Margiris, which has been recorded fishing off the Irish coast in recent weeks(3). The cost would be felt by the rest of us. This is our last chance to stop this. Join us in calling on Minister McConalogue to uphold Ireland’s obligation(4) to ensure the accuracy of catch reporting by blocking this dangerous proposal. It’s time to stand up for the ocean and everyone who depends on it. Find out more about why this petition is so important by visiting the BirdWatch Ireland website: https://birdwatchireland.ie/join-us-in-calling-on-minister-mcconalogue-to-oppose-eu-council-proposals-that-would-undermine-accurate-catch-reporting-and-risk-further-overfishing/ (1) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/16/loophole-quotas-overfishing-endangered-species-eu-papers (2) https://ejfoundation.org/reports/a-case-study-of-the-margin-of-tolerance-in-the-baltic-sea (3) https://www.independent.ie/news/environment/alarm-for-marine-life-and-local-fishing-crews-as-monster-super-trawler-fishes-in-irish-waters-for-a-third-day-42388536.html (4) https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=3E9E9FB0F6680A682CD5505D13ECBF56?text=&docid=253727&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=2468322