The Irish Environmental Forum
national |
environment |
other press
Tuesday January 31, 2006 14:22
by green greenie
“Our only litmus test for joining is that you’re serious about it. If you’ve party politics, you leave them at the door,” said Ms Sinnott, adding that she was only a ‘midwife’ to the birth of the forum.
Bid to unite communities in environmental fight
26/01/2006 - 4:33:23 PM
A new environmental forum has been set up to unite communities fighting against industrial pollution, incinerators and mobile phone masts.
The Irish Environmental Forum will include more than 20 different groups from around the country.
Its new chairwoman, Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott, said the environmental movement had been hampered by the lack of a national voice.
“There’s no substitute for the local fight, but we want local groups linked up for mutual help and information, and to nationally start highlighting the fact that it isn’t just happening in one place. There’s a similar disregard for people’s health and the environment all over the country,” she said.
The groups who have signed up to the forum in three preliminary meetings include farmers concerned about industrial pollution in Limerick, residents fighting against the Indaver incinerator in Cork Harbour, and people opposed to mobile phone masts in Waterford.
“Our only litmus test for joining is that you’re serious about it. If you’ve party politics, you leave them at the door,” said Ms Sinnott, adding that she was only a ‘midwife’ to the birth of the forum.
She said that officials in the European Commission had pointed out to her that while countries like Holland and Sweden had strong national environmental groups, the environmental movement in Ireland lacked a similar voice.
complete text:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/irishnews/story.asp?j=170681...14&x=
more info:
Irish Environmental Forum
A new independent, people-oriented environmental NGO
Contact : Pat Geoghegan
geogheganpat [at] eircom.net
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Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5This looks like a really good idea to me - particularly when it seems to be very much in keeping with the United Nations Aarhus Convention Agreement principles - which the Republic of Ireland signed in 1998. (Some basic information on this unusually important and socially benign international agreement can be found at http://www.finnachta.com/TheAarhusConvention.htm )
In case The Irish Environmental Forum might not be fully aware of the situation, please note that outline information on some truly dreadful wrongdoing by senior public officials - in the form of an application for Legal Aid dated November 3rd 2004 by a young law student (Ms Ann Marie Kelly), who is a neighbour of mine in County Galway, and which relates to a truly MASSIVE undermining of the Aarhus Convention Agreement, can be viewed at the following location:
http://www.annmariekelly.org/LegalAidApplication/3Novem...4.htm
Some may also be interested to know that Ms Kelly's application for Legal Aid, to challenge the huge National Toll Roads / Greenstar rubbish dump in our community, was copied to Minister for Justice Michael McDowell TD, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern TD, and Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney TD - as can clearly be seen at the above address.
Sadly, and as some readers will already know, all of the senior public officials concerned appear to have completely ignored Ms Kelly's requests - with the result that the National Toll Roads / Greenstar rubbish dump in Kilconnell - or "superdump" as it is normally referred to locally - opened for business a few weeks ago.
More recently, and as can be seen at the address provided immediately below, the matter of Ms Kelly rejected application for Legal Aid has been mentioned in connection with the European Court of Human Rights Case Number 25077/05 - under "Item 9)" in the e-mail sent yesterday to senior lawyer Robert McCartney QC MLA:
http://www.constitutionofireland.com/RobertMcCartneyQC3...l.htm
Dear all,
People before Profit are holding a meeting in Dublin on the 24th Feb at the IFI Eustace St, Temple Bar (7.30 on) to discuss waste politics in Ireland and who are making profits from them. While we appreciate that Dublin is something of a trek for some people, we would dearly like to meet campaigners from other groups. If you can't go but are interested in spreading information about your particular campaign, if you contact me, I'll put the details on an A4 info sheet and circulate it to those present.
The idea of People before Profit is similar to the Irish Environmental Forum in that we are trying to deepen the links between various campaigns and create political space for campaigners views. As a group, we don't specialise in environmental issues per se - instead our aim is to clarify through discussion and the pooling of information how decisions are made which affect local communities, what rational lies behind them and who profits.
Cathy Swift
"The idea of People before Profit is similar to the Irish Environmental Forum in that we are trying to deepen the links between various campaigns and create political space for campaigners views. As a group, we don't specialise in environmental issues per se - instead our aim is to clarify through discussion and the pooling of information how decisions are made which affect local communities, what rational lies behind them and who profits."
If that is what the PBP is then how are decisions made. For example how was it decided to have a march for the Ballybrack 3? Where the various campaigns involved contacted and campaigners views sought or did Kieran and Richard just think it was a good idea?
'"If you’ve party politics, you leave them at the door,” said Ms Sinnott'
would not this preclude PBP's involvement?
You lot are fools, You need incinerators to burn rubbish 'cause we can't keep filling up landfill, 'cause you protest about those too.. We need mobile phones to communicate and do business in the first place. So we need masts, And you need more factorys to create more industry jobs like manufacture of goods, Simply 'cause the government with there huge taxes are forcing other companys to move to cheaper markets such as India or Pakistan for computer related or high tech companys.
I'll let you in on a secret to, I work in IT and if you ring our customer care number (which is a dublin 01 number) the call automatically routes here to Qubec, Because with your lovely Bertie and Finna Fail our taxes alone in 2003 was € 55 million, Wages costs were € 59.4 million, We were forced to sack 400 + people in one month and move our operations out here to Qubec, Our taxes in 2004 was € 2.9 million, And our wages costs was much lower (cant reval those), But our profit was € 189 million, Yes we put profit before people, But it's just BUSINESS..Plus the weather and people are 100% nicer than what we left behind in dreary dublin....