Vandalism

In a story reported in the Argus, Paraic McKevitt, who is rumoured to be running for the Green Party in the upcoming County Council elections, complained about a recent spate of vandalism in Greenore village: "Residents in Greenore woke last Thursday morning to find that shrubs which had been planted at the entrance to the village's famous golf course had been pulled up by vandals." This kind of petty vandalism is increasingly a feature, not just of the big towns in Louth, but increasingly the smaller towns and villages. "People have put in a lot of time and effort to try and improve the appearance of the village so it's very disappointing when something like this happens," said McKevitt.

This theme was taken up by the Lordship and Cooley Community Alert AGM in a previous item in the Dundalk Democrat: "High on the agenda is the ongoing concern on crime in the area and the continuing efforts to counteract it. Chairman of the group Kevin Conroy said "As recent reports in the press indicate, there are few signs that the problem is being resolved. Indeed, many crimes both petty and otherwise are not even being reported" he added. " Indeed failure to report and highlight these petty crimes and anti-social behavior is often the cause for their perpetrators to graduate to bigger crimes as they grow older.

We can expect more of this kind of thing as the economy continues to decline. According to a piece in the well respected OpEd News: "Around the world, law enforcement officials and sociologists are closely watching the current economy-driven rise in crime. Domestic violence, robbery, theft and murder are rising, as people fail to cope with job loss, repossession and uncertainty. In Ireland, as in the United States, economic problems are generating a fertile field for domestic violence. "

Toomes Raider Thwarted

Wet woodland at Toomes - lives to fight another day!

According to a piece in The Argus this week Quinn Energy plans to build a gas-fired power plant in the Ballykelly/Toomes area near Louth village are on hold. According to a spokesman for the troubled Quinn Group, "the company is still in the middle of the permitting system and timelines for reconstruction have been put back."

Quinn originally applied to An Bord Pleanala for planning permission under the Strategic Infrastructure Act in September 2007. After several delays and an extended oral hearing the Inspector refused permission on the grounds that the plant was a material contravention of the County Development Plan - the implication being that the Coundy Development Plan never intended such a vast commercially-run industrial facilityto be located in such a agriculturally-based rural area. However the Bord overruled their own inspector and the opinions of the many objectors and approved the plant with a large number of conditions. Approval was given in May 2008, well beyond the normal 28 week delay between application and approval.

Toomes wet meadow slated for destruction by Quinn

Quinn then applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control permit but the EPA inspector requested a considerable amount of further information from the applicant - delays in providing this information is the cause of the current delay.

Having said that one has to wonder if the economic downtown, the credit crunch and Quinn's well known problems in relation to the Anglo Irish Bank scandal are not adding to Quinn's problems.

Common Spotted Orchid (alba form) at Toomes

The 30 acre area in question is acknowledged by Quinn as being of very high ecological quality in the EIS that was submitted as part of the ABP application. It consists of an area of wet woodland and wet meadow, habitats that are rare in County Louth. If the project ever does go ahead the area will be substantially destroyed and County Louth's environment will be much the poorer for it. Given the many alternative brownfield sites that would be just as suitable, but probably more costly than "an auld bog", one has to wonder what the words "sustainable" mean in terms of the missions of both the EPA and An Bord Pleanala!

Eco-tourism, Wind and Wave, and Smart Logistics

These were the themes of the Sustainability Conference Hosted by the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday.

The first session covered opportunities for the exploitation of sustainable energy sources in the form of wind and wave. The presentation from Open Hydro was particularly impressive in terms of "big solutions", while the presentation from Cool Power addressed home solutions. The fact that we will very soon able to sell home generated energy back to the ESB was not lost on the Chamber audience.













The second session focused on integrated eco-tourism opportunities in County Louth. The first, by Brendan McSherry, Louth Heritage Officer covered, our amazing bird life; Dundalk bay has the biggest concentration of overwintering birds in the country. Yet the county, unlike every other county on the east coast, has no infrastructure for accessing nature at all! It also outlined the possibility of designating a Geopark in the Cooleys and Gullion comples. The second talk, from James Orr of Castle Espie, made a convincing case for how integrated infrastructure for nature watching can be profitable in itself, not to mention the many spinoffs from such resources. The last presentation in that session described the Marble Arches Geopark in Fermanagh/Cavan, giving a taste of how a Geopark could work in Louth.












The final session dealt with Dundalk's potential as a national logistics hub, much more familiar fare for the assembled be-suited businessmen and women.

More About Rubbish

The Dundalk Democrat had another article about the recent increase in dumping around Dundalk. Said Cllr Seamus Keelan (FF), "The dumping is happening all over the town. It is at the back of housing estates and since Cllr Ian Dooley raised the problem of dumping at Moorland Road, more rubbish has been left there, including a bath."

One of the biggest problems with dumping, particularly in association with waterways, is the effect decaying rubbish and leaching chemicals may have on groundwater. In mid-Louth, the Democrat also reported on "Good news for residents near Whiteriver landfill". According to the story the EPA have said that new by-laws must be introduced to stop increasing volumes of biodegradable waste being dumped in landfills. Otherwise heavy EU fines will be incurred. There have been several problems at this particular landfill site at Philipstown - mostly smells, and local worries about contamination of the water supply. Local people have also called for the wells to be tested for contamination by the Louth County Council.

The impact of rubbish on drinking water, and indeed contamination from septic tanks, is a major and growing problem in Ireland

At a talk given by Eanna Ni Lamhna, President of An Taisce, at the Spirit Store recently, Eanna showed on a map the huge area of Ireland that lacks any kind of municipal sewage system, driven by the huge number of one-off houses. The ground-water has been tested in these areas and it has been found that most testing sites were contaminated: "52 per cent of all EPA monitoring locations showed bacteriological contamination at least once between 2003 and 2005, with 30 per cent of all EPA monitoring locations being grossly contaminated at least once during this period."

The main findings of an EPA study on waste management in Ireland, were:

"The overall generation of municipal waste did not increase appreciably in 2007, in contrast to 2006;
Recycling rates generally remained steady with good progress reported in relation to packaging;
The diversion of very large quantities of food waste from landfill is a priority that must be addressed; and
The level of waste reported in 2007, allied with the need for businesses to reduce costs in 2009, reflects the need for continued support for resource conservation initiatives in relation to waste, water and energy, such as the National Waste Prevention Programme."

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop To Drink

The Meath Chronicle carried a story this week about work being done to study flooding risks in the Fingal East Meath area reported to the Council. According to the story, "The main objectives of the Fingal East Meath Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study are to identify and map the existing and potential future flood hazard risk areas within the study area and build the strategic information base necessary for making informed decisions in relation to managing flood risk." The study will identify areas at a high risk of flooding as well as existing flood defense measures. "This survey started in August last year and is almost complete, with 27 kilometres of river channel assets and 10km of coastal assets being surveyed."

Details of the study can be found here. For those interested in past known flooding events, the Office of Public Works has a website here that maps known flooding events, though it should be noted that only "recorded" flooding events are included; remote areas that are flood-prone may not be included.

Much of County Louth is at significant risk of flooding with major past flooding events in Dundalk, Drogheda and much of the coastal areas in between, as well in the Boyne valley and elsewhere. Part of the reason is that much of this land is reclaimed, particularly around Dundalk, Blackrock, Ballymascanlon, Lurgangreen and Mooretown. With global warming driving the possibility of such extreme weather events, the potential for episodes such as the nationwide episode in August 2008.

One of the impacts of flooding events is that they often contaminate drinking water with sewage, so alcohol may be the only choice!

In the meantime the Irish Examiner reports, "The practice of building houses and other concrete structures on flood plains is destroying Ireland’s natural flood defences, according to one of the country’s leading experts on coastal engineering." (see town planners blog for full story)." The story continues, "If you look at the rainfall patterns over the last 20 years, you will find that there has been a marked change. We are now getting severe bursts of rain rather than precipitation being spread out,” said Dr Jimmy Murphy, coastal engineering manager with the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre, University College Cork (UCC)."

More details of the seminar and studies may be found at the UCC web site.

More Rubbish!

This weeks Dundalk Democrat has two pieces on dumping and recycling, the first from Carrickmacross News. This article is an invitation to members of the public to recycle Christmas waste at The Recycling Centre, Scotch Corner - details of other bring centres in the area are here. List of Christmas tree recycling points listed also. Meanwhile the same paper on the same topic carried a report of a recent Town Council meeting where the subject of who is responsible for the disposal of rubbish from rental accommodation came up. Ballybay SF Councillor Gene Duffy asked if skips could be supplied to local residents associations to all for major clean-ups. There was also a reminder to the folk of Tallanstown and surrounding areas about new recycling facility opened on the Springhill Road, Tallanstown.

Perhaps the high level of coverage of rubbish and dumping issues is just a hangover from Christmas, or more worryingly, perhaps it is an early indication of people responding to the recession by saving on rubbish disposal costs?

An Taisce branded "murders", "terrorists", by enraged Councillors

In a riveting story in the Meath Chronicle , Meath Councillors have branded An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland, as "murders", "terrorists", "robbers" following the decision by An Bord Pleanala, to refuse planning permission for a business park at Kilbride. According to the story: "Robin Rennicks was granted planning permission by Meath County Council for phase one of a business park on lands at Belgree, Kilbride, Clonee, last June. Councillors had agreed to materially contravene the Meath County Development Plan, allowing the development on lands previously unzoned for such a project. An Taisce, along with a number of local objectors, appealed the council’s decision to the planning appeals board, Bord Pleanala, which last week overturned the decision of the Meath planning authority."

Under Part 8 of the Local Government Act , County Councillors can change the County Development Plan so that , for example, land zoned as agricultural can be rezoned for industry. However An Taisce and local residents objected to the rezoning on the grounds that it was outwith regional planning guidelines, was not near any growth centre or transportation corridor, unserviced with inadequate sewerage capacity. An Bord Pleanala agreed and refused permission on the 13th January 2009. In refusing the application the inspectors report states in essence that the development is "contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

The article continues: "Ian Lumley, An Taisce’s heritage officer, this week rejected the criticisms of the Meath councillors, saying that there was more than enough zoned land for industrial development in Navan, Dunboyne, Drogheda environs, Ashbourne and along the new railway corridor. “These locations have all been identified and the development plan reflects that,” he says. “Material contraventions are back-door rezonings for landowners,” he added.