This is the original section of the Friend’s website, established in 1997. It continues to record the work of the organisation in a chronological sequence and you can browse its pages or search for a particular subject through the search engine in the upper right hand corner of this page. Click on the 'Read more' to see recent highlights. The site has gone through several upgrades, so if you encounter broken links in the site, use the search engine. 

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As the Minister for the Environment announces changes to control rural planning, FIE is pleased to publish its Parliamentary Reply of the Year. The question is from Independent Deputy Tony Gregory to John Gormley, Minister for the Environment:

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage, and Local Government the number of one-off houses outside areas zones for development in county development plans 2000 to 2005.

REPLY: While my Department compiles a broad range of housing statistics for publication in the quarterly Housing Bulletin, specific data are not available on the number of one-off houses built outside areas zoned for development.

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A ‘Request for Action' under the European Environmental Liability Directive has been filed with the Environmental Protection Agency by an Irish environmental group.

Citing more than 17 reports from the Government and other agencies identified under Access to Information on the Environment from 1995 to date, the environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] have invoked Article 12 of this Directive This gives NGOS the right to formally seek action where there is damage or threat of environmental damage occurring.

If the evidence provided is ‘plausible', the Directive requires the member state to ensure that necessary preventive measures are taken ‘without delay'. It

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PRESS RELEASE JULY 3 2008
FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT

The environmental lobby group FIE welcomed yesterday's ruling by the European Court of Justice against Ireland over environmental impact assessment.

The Court found that Ireland's system of retention system and the enforcement provisions of the Planning Act are non-compliant with the EIA Directive. The Court ruled that ‘The inadequacy of the enforcement system set up by Ireland is accordingly demonstrated inasmuch as the existence of retention permission deprives it of any effectiveness'.

While many cases were cited, in the Court's view, it was ‘superfluous to analyse the various examples put forward to illustrate the deficiencies in application of the enforcement measures, since those deficiencies are the direct result of the inadequacies of the Irish legislation itself.'

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Cork County Council has used ‘cabinet confidentiality' to refuse FIE their technical reports and in internal communications relating to the ongoing clean up of the Irish Steel site on Haulbowline Island, County Cork.

The steelworks occupied 11 ha of the central portion of the island and 9 ha known as the East Tip. Almost all has been created by infill and is subject to tidal influence. While 100,000 tons of contaminated soil has been exported in 41 shiploads to Germany for treatment to date, almost 500,000 tons remain.

However, documents released to FIE by the EPA show that ‘emergency response activity' was triggered when a contractor's machinery sank into a toxic ‘sludge pit' on 2 February 2008. The contractor was given ‘no knowledge that there were oil sludge pits at surface level'. It is now alleged that Reports held by the Irish authorities show they knew of the dangers to which the workers would be exposed but these documents were not disclosed.

Contaminants includes heavy metals such as mercury, zinc and lead as well as hydrocarbons, PCBs and Chromium 6, highly toxic carcinogens. Radioactive material is also present.

Every indication is that this is the largest and most extensive pollution incident in the history of the state.

Read our view in the Irish Examiner

View the documentation released by the EPA

And view Cork County Council's ‘cabinet confidentiality' refusal!

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Emily O'Reilly, the Information Commissioner, has disallowed the fee charged by Sligo County Council for providing information on the environment under new Irish Regulations. The Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 133 of 2007) came into effect last year. This implements a 2003 European Directive and operates in parallel to the Freedom of Information Act.

In a case brought by Open Focus in County Sligo, the organization had asked for the details of waste water and sewage treatment plants in the County. Sligo County Council had sought €285 for providing this information. The Commissioner found that Sligo County Council had failed to make available to the public ‘a list of fees charged, information on how they are calculated and the circumstances under which they may be waived'.

The Information Commission also stated that she ‘did not agree' with the Department's Guidelines which permit charging for ‘staff costs connected with searching and retrieving the information'. She had ‘difficulty reconciling this with the Directive's and the Guidelines stricture that that no charge can be made if the requester examines the environmental information in situ'.

FIE Press Release

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Environmentalists warn over relaxing fishing controls
Call for Marine Protection Areas

As Irish fishermen meet with Ministers Smith and Killeen, Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] has written to the two Ministers and urged them  to heed the advice of its own Marine Institute.

FIE claims the message from the scientists is clear:

"the closure of the fisheries for the species at risk provide the highest probability of recovery for these species and is the ONLY advice possible in the context of the precautionary approach".

The fishermen's demand for payment for retiring boats Boat does nothing for the environment. The removal of these vessels will merely increase the quotas available to the more modern competitive fishing vessels.

FIE is urging the Ministers to adopt the best scientific advice and establish effective marine conservation areas where all fishing is excluded at all times. Easily enforced, this way forward allows fisherman to harvest the upwelling of fish that spill out of these highly productive areas and yet the stocks are protected from over-exploitation.

Listen to the debate between the fishermen and FIE on RTE's Morning Ireland news.

Press release

Letter to Ministers

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FIE is challenging in the High Court the first decision to be given for a project under the new ‘fast track' Strategic Infrastructure Act, a Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG] Terminal near Tarbert on the Shannon estuary.

Until recently, a planning decision given by a local authority can be appealed to An Bord Pleanala. But under the 2006 Strategic Infrastructure Act An Bord Pleanala itself makes the planning decision in the first instance and there is no further appeal.

Since the Aarhus Convention, European Directives have given citizens the right to a review of a decision that is ‘timely, equitable, and not prohibitive expensive'. It must be of all ‘substantive and procedural' legal matters.

That is what FIE is seeking in its application to the Court. In another application to the High Court a member of the Kilcolgan Residents Association is also seeking a Judicial Review with ‘safety, environmental and procedural' grounds for the action.

In fact, the decision infringes at least five European Directives - the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, the Seveso Directive on Major Accidents, the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, the Habitats Directive and the Water Framework Directive.

Read our Press release

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The oldest living animal in Ireland has become functionally extinct in the last few years.

The claim comes as the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment have established a section of their website for Biodiversity Day 2008 with a list of extinct Irish animals, birds, and plants.

The lists includes 24 Irish species that have become extinct, including the grey wolf, the great Auk, the osprey, the wild cat, and the corn bunting. The fresh water pearl mussel, which can live to moré than 130 years, has been shown by recent research to have become functionally extinct in the last few years.

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??? POISONED RECENTLY???

Did you or someone you know get sick after eating mussels, particularly during March? You are not alone. Please contact us. Strictest confidence assured. Friends of the Irish Environment 027 - 73131 or admin@friendsoftheirishenvironment.net 

FIE has placed the above notice in local and national papers as part of our ongoing investigation into food poising from Irish shellfish. A notice from the RAPID ALERT SYSTEM FOR FOOD AND FEED [RASFF] from the European Commission on April 14 2008 after testing by a customer in France gave this very serious bio-toxin as ‘Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP)’ in ‘precooked frozen mussels from Ireland’. 

FIE is raising the following questions: 

• Why was this alert not notified to the Irish public? 
• Why has nothing been done when the Government was condemned by the European Court of Justice in June of 2007 for its failure to protect the quality of water in areas where shellfish can be harvested and aquaculture licenses outside areas designated for this activity remain valid? 
• Why is aqauaculture harvesting continuing in areas that do not meet EU water quality standards and why are sites not closed when by the Marine Institute’s own Protocol and published testing result it appears they should be closed?  
• Why are producers responsible for taking the samples for analysis? 
• Were the mussels identified by the RASFF Alert harvested when a notice prohibiting harvesting was in place?
• Read our [unpublished] letter to the Irish Times highlighting the fact that they failed to correctly identity the very serious bio-toxin AZA when they knew it was the subject of the Alert.

The story continues to break as the Sunday Times covers the recall finally issued by the food and saftey authority more than 18 days after the RASFF Alert - and now that the fulll extent of public danger can not be concealed as Aldi Supermarkets issue a warning about the mussels, supplied to them and reimported into Ireland.

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Speaking at the University College Cork Law Department's conference on ‘Enforcing European Community Environmental Law' last Thursday, FIE has called for a revision of the legislation that prevents ‘access to a review' to challenge planning decisions under the Strategic Infrastructure and Roads Acts.

FIE quotes High Court Justice Kelly's comment that ‘it is not to credit of this state that it has failed to give effect to its legal obligations' under EU law.

FIE also quotes Justice Clarke's subsequent judgement in which he says that he is ‘satisfied that it might well be necessary to have regard to the requirements of the Directive that there be ‘wide access to justice'. Clarke goes even further and says that in order to provide means of reviewing environmental decisions it may well be necessary to go beyond the ‘existing jurisprudence'.

The presentation also highlights the excuses given by Cork and Mayo Councils in not enforcing quarry registration conditions - that the law does not give them the authority to do so - which we are referring to the Minister for the Environment.

This paper will be updated shortly to incorporate the discussions which took place during the conference.

Read the paper in our library.

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Kerry's Mayor Michael Healy-Rae's call for the Kerry slug to ‘go to hell' has been met with a vigorous response from FIE. FIE submitted a report to the Minister for the Environment in February of last year which, with many other representations, led to the Minister instructing the NRA to seek a route for the N22 that would avoid Cascade Woods, a habitat for many species, including the protected Kerry slug.

Speaking to Radio Kerry about the delay, Healy-Rae said ‘Its about time that we got our priorities right and leave the snails go to hell and mind our people.'

In fact the Route Selection Report stated that restrictions resulting from an ongoing dispute between the Irish Farmers Association and the National Roads Authority led to landowners denying access to farmland to undertake survey work for the proposed road.

If the survey had taken place the route could have been shifted, allowing both the woodland and the road to coexist. In this case and in the case of other road projects like the Kildare By-pass there has been a wholly unjustified and deliberate attempt to stigmatise species like slugs and snails when the real issue is the preservation of Ireland's fast-vanishing natural heritage.

Read our Press release

Interview on Radio Kerry

Report on Cascade Woods

See also the report on the Kildare Bypass and ‘the snail'

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FIE has responded to the Chairman of the Federation of Irish Fishermen's Michael Walsh's claim that ‘fishermen are being pursued like criminals and risk prosecution for trying to make a living' because of the ‘minefield of legislation'. In fact, Irish vessels landed more than 40,000 tons of mackerel through secret pipes under the quays at two Scottish ports between 2001 - and 2005, resulting in cuts in Ireland's quota. Two large Irish trawlers were apprehended unloading a huge catch of mackerel into a fleet of 20 lorries waiting at a west of Ireland quayside in 2005. Each lorry was driven by a number of people in sequence to break the chain of evidence and make prosecution impossible. The ‘blue box' used to track by satellite the movement of the fishing vessels had been tampered with and showed the location of the vessels as 25 miles off the Irish coast. This is organized crime.

See our Press Release

Read the Letter

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The planning approval of the proposed Kerry LNG terminal is a missed opportunity for Ireland.

The recent approval of a Floating Storage Regasification Unit in Long Island Sound in the United States points the future way for safer and more environmentally friendly liquid gas storage and treatment. In approving the American project, the authorities have noted that the distance from the shoreline and so from population centers reduces the risk of accidents, environmental pollution and terrorist attacks.

The Kerry site on the busy Shannon River and the 30 kilometer pipeline poses great environmental and safety threats that offshore terminals avoid. It is to be regretted that the Irish authorities have approved this outdated project.

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As an awareness raising initiative and in influencing behavioral change by consumers, the introduction of a plastic bag levy in 2003 has been an unprecedented success. It has achieved what the European Commission has often stated is that most difficult of objects - to change individual's behavior.

Prior to the introduction of the levy it is estimated that over 1.2 billion plastic bags were given out annually in Ireland - roughly 328 bags per capita per year. When the levy was introduced in 2002 this fell to 21 bags per capita.

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In its submission to the Biodiversity Action Plan 2008 - 2012, FIE is seeking to have the educational awareness funding targeted at conflict areas in the nature designation process. A recent EU poll showed that Ireland ranked last in awareness of biodiversity throughout the EU.

These designations and the protection they afford are the primary concern of the European Commission's fights against species loss - yet pressure by farmers and land owners unaware of the importance of biodiversity has led to cutbacks in designations.

Read the Press Release

Read the Submission

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FIE has welcomed the intervention of the Dutch authorities in impounding 6 containers of farm plastic waste from Ireland. The waste is a vector for animal disease and invasive plant material. See the Sunday Times story today.

The material is heavily contaminated to the point where British Polyethylene Industries (BPI) in Scotland have told FIE that is was necessary to impose a surcharge on Irish farm plastic because of its excessive contamination, which included not only dead animals but the motor of a Ford Anglia.

 However, to date the Irish authorities have considered it ‘green list' waste and have not subject it to any export controls, in spite of representations from FIE and others. See our (unanswered) Letter to the Minister for the Environment.

Exported to Asia and China, bales of contaminated plastic are swung into rivers where - for example - a worker with a machete slashes them to allow the river water to clean them before recycling.

FIE is supporting MEP Caroline Lewis's call for an investigation

by the Commission.

It is calling on John Gormley to address these concerns and to give the full figures about this plastic waste. One Irish yard is reported to contain 15,000 tons of soiled farm plastics and shipments are alleged to have continued by road as late as last week.

Press Release.

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English MEP Caroline Lucas has set the cat amongst the pigeons by tabling an EU Parliamentary Question about the trans-boundary movements of farm plastics.

The material is heavily contaminated and a vector for animal disease and invasive plant material. See our Press Release. However, to date the Irish authorities have considered it ‘green list' waste and have not subject it to any export controls, in spite of representations from FIE and others. See our (unanswered) Letter to the Minister for the Environment.

Documents FIE has seen reveal that at the end of 2007 the Department admitted that they had ‘little or no' ‘Certificates of Disposal' which ensure the material goes to ‘an environmentally safe outlet' as stipulated by the EU Trans Frontier Shipment Regulations. Under Article 40, it is now the responsibility of the exporting country to ensure that the final destination of waste is environmentally safe.

FIE understands that thousands of tons of this contaminated waste is currently awaiting export - some brought by legitimate companies under contract to Local Authorities to unauthorized sites. The MEP's intervention requires the Commission to investigate - which is turning the spotlight on Ireland.

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FIE has written to European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas seeking the extension of Star Energy ratings to televisions. Through a loophole in the law, television are not required to show their power consumption yet huge modern plasma TVs can require many times the power of traditional TVs.

If half of British home owners bought a plasma-screen TV, two nuclear power stations would have to be built to meet the extra energy demand - some 2.5 gigawatts.

FIE's letter to the European Commissioner points out that conservation must be the cornerstone of government's policy but that without proper information, the consumer will be unable to play his part and member states like Ireland are unable to introduced minimum standards.

Press Release
Letter to the Commissioner

Q102 Radio interview

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FIE has joined with An Taisce, the National Trust and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council [IPCC] to protest against the grant of planning permission for a 100MW peat and mixed fuel power plant.

An Taisce and the IPCC have appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala while FIE has raised concerns with the Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan that the decision is stated to be on the basis of government policy when we had thought government policy was opposed to new peat-fired generating capacity.

FIE has also queried the European Commission to determine their position and if they have been notified about this proposal and its potential impact on the National Allocations Program for Ireland's carbon emissions.

According to the EPA, more than 23 million tons of carbon were lost in the 10 years from 1990 - 2000 from peat extraction for combustion in Ireland - and that's without considering the impact on the environment through burning a fossil fuel more polluting than coal

In County Mayo only 29% of the original peatlands remain.

Read the joint Press Release.

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