Public meeting about recent EU draft legislation, adopted 6th May on the quiet, effectively banning seeds...

Protest march in Castlebar 1.30pm, meeting at The Mall (grassy area near library) and heading to End Kennys office. Saturday. ... read full story / add a comment

Now more than ever we need the Irish peoples voice at Dail Eireann. The sale of Coilltes harvesting rights is still imminent. Please spread the word and join us there to stop the traffic on Tuesday 21st. Let the Government hear and see NO - loud and clear!! ... read full story / add a comment

Call Out:
Come to the Rossport Solidarity Camp, Pullathomas, Co. Mayo for a week of action in June against Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. This week has been called to coincide with one of Shell’s busiest work times. Come to act in solidarity with the 13 year old campaign in Mayo against Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. The week will be jam packed with a wide variety of actions! There will be something useful for everyone to do, regardless of your experience and skills. The Rossport Solidarity Camp is being erected specifically for this week, and will be taken back down when the week is completed. So if you are planning on traveling to Mayo this summer – make it this week! ... read full story / add a comment

Animal welfare groups and greyhound protection organizations are appalled at the deliberate cruelty to greyhounds in Ireland revealed in the course of a recent court case, where a man admitted getting someone to shot two greyhounds that refused to chase hares (link to item on case below)
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This walk in the woods is to highlight the campaign to stop the government’s plan to sell off the harvesting rights to Ireland’s public forests under the EU/IMF “Troika” programme and to maintain them in public ownership.

The sell off of the harvesting rights will mean that the government will lease the land for 99 years to private companies. There will be absolute no guarantee of public access and the companies will be under no obligation to provide it. This will affect all the different people who use our national forests such as hikers, walkers, bikers, horse riding, tourists, cross-country runners, sports people and many others. It also affects access rights for your children and their children.

The event will feature music, readings and poetry with musicians Christy Moore and Paddy Casey, Actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack ... read full story / add a comment

Large areas of Leitrim and Clare are under options licenses for onshore Shale Gas extraction using destructive and invasive technology, including hydraulic fracturing.

What is less well known is that large areas of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon are also licensed for Lignite extraction, which in simple terms is Coal Bed Methane/Coal Seam Gasification, with an even greater environmental and human health impact than shale gas extraction. ... read full story / add a comment

The government is planning to sell off our national forests which are currently owned by Coillte. The plan would be to sell harvesting rights on 500,000 acres out of 1.2 million that they manage. They claim it is worth €700 million although in the Peter Bacon report on Forestry, he puts the true value at €360 million or the equivalent of 3 days of government expenditure. Bacon said: "economic rationale for the proposed sale of harvesting rights no longer stands up and cannot be justified." and that he further concluded it would actually cost the state €1,300 million to sell the harvesting rights of Coillte due to various liabilities. The report says that the forests should be developed further as a public resource. ... read full story / add a comment

The Woodland League wish to highlight the fact that Coillte since 2009 have already sold 108 million euros of trees with harvesting rights, to IFUT ( Irish Forestry Unit Trust ) a pension fund company, of which they are partners. In a bizarre situation, Coillte have used these proceeds to pay off some of its own large pension fund debts. The National Pension Reserve Fund has also been used by IFUT to fund these sales and its contribution obscured within IFUT’s bail out of Coillte. This is not how this vital Public NPRF funding should be used, it is supposed to be invested in the peoples future. http://www.nprf.ie/Publications/2011/NPRFReport2010.pdf
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All the worry about Global Warming has tended to focus on carbon dioxide emissions but the real threat may be methane emissions.... In the past 5 years there have been major changes happening up in the Arctic. The annual summer melt of the sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean has greatly increased, exposing a much larger area to heating during the summer months which in turn has warmed the ocean enough that the frozen methane hydrates on and below the seabed are beginning to melt, causing methane gas to bubble to the surface. The trouble is methane is up to 100 times (over initial 20 year period of release) more effective than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and the estimated quantity of methane hydrates suggests the amount of carbon contained in them exceeds all the coal, oil and gas burned so far. And should the tundra melt in Siberia then the huge area of peatland will resume decomposing thereby emitting a very large quantity of carbon dioxide. This scenario would take us past extinction danger point which is reckoned for a rise of 6oCelsius or more would be close to certainty. ... read full story / add a comment

Statement from participants in the No Fracking Ireland Network on the EPA ‘public consultation’ process with regard to ‘Proposed terms of reference for EPA/DCENR/NIEA Research Programme on Environmental Impacts of Unconventional Gas Exploration & Extraction (UGEE)’
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This was originally published by Gluaiseacht in a publication released at the time of the 2012 Grassroots Gathering in Galway. ... read full story / add a comment

The Irish government is giving away our natural resources. Oil and Gas exploration licences have been handed out to big multi nationals under terms that mean the Irish people do not gain jobs, a revenue stream or security of supply. Practices with serious environmental consequences, such as fracking,are not ruled out under law. Our water is about to be sold off too and our fisheries have been damaged and given away to the EU. ... read full story / add a comment

Dendermonde, 12th February 2013. Today the court of Dendermonde convicted 11 activists of 'gang formation'. In doing so, the judge has criminalised their participation in the non violent direct action and debate on May 29th, 2011, which brought attention to the need for a sustainable agriculture system. ... read full story / add a comment

Award winning scientist, Jessica Ernst, a 55 year old Canadian with 30 years oil and gas industry experience, is suing the Alberta government, Alberta energy regulator, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), and EnCana for negligence and unlawful activities related to hydraulic fracturing. The technology has become the subject of serious government investigations throughout North America due to surface and groundwater contamination.

Jessica is giving a series of talks on fracking around Ireland and England from March 2nd to March 11th, Taking in Leitrim, Clare, Belfast, Maynooth, Dublin, Lancs, London ... read full story / add a comment

Award winning scientist, Jessica Ernst, a 55 year old Canadian with 30 years oil and gas industry experience, is suing the Alberta government, Alberta energy regulator, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), and EnCana for negligence and unlawful activities related to hydraulic fracturing. The technology has become the subject of serious government investigations throughout North America due to surface and groundwater contamination.

Jessica is giving a series of talks on fracking around Ireland and England from March 2nd to March 11th, Taking in Leitrim, Clare, Belfast, Maynooth, Dublin, Lancs, London ... read full story / add a comment

Award winning scientist, Jessica Ernst, a 55 year old Canadian with 30 years oil and gas industry experience, is suing the Alberta government, Alberta energy regulator, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), and EnCana for negligence and unlawful activities related to hydraulic fracturing. The technology has become the subject of serious government investigations throughout North America due to surface and groundwater contamination.

Jessica is giving a series of talks on fracking around Ireland and England from March 2nd to March 11th, Taking in Leitrim, Clare, Belfast, Maynooth, Dublin, Lancs, London ... read full story / add a comment

Award winning scientist, Jessica Ernst, a 55 year old Canadian with 30 years oil and gas industry experience, is suing the Alberta government, Alberta energy regulator, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), and EnCana for negligence and unlawful activities related to hydraulic fracturing. The technology has become the subject of serious government investigations throughout North America due to surface and groundwater contamination.

Jessica is giving a series of talks on fracking around Ireland and England from March 2nd to March 11th, Taking in Leitrim, Clare, Belfast, Maynooth, Dublin, Lancs, London ... read full story / add a comment

Today, Shell to Sea held a morning protest outside Bellanaboy refinery to highlight Shell's announcement of profits of €19.6 billion for 2012.

Brandishing signs including “Shell Destroys Communities & Environment” and “Harmful to Local Community”, members of the community blocked trucks drawing material to Shell tunneling compound at Aughoose. ... read full story / add a comment

Last Thurs 24th Jan 2013, the Irish and British governments agreed on a memorandum of understanding for energy trading between Ireland and the UK. This will pave the way for the export of Wind Energy to the UK. This would likely make use of the electric interconnector completed last year between the UK and Ireland although it may need additional cables.

The wind resource in Ireland is probably greater than what the Irish electrical grid can cope with and hence the idea is that the surplus wind energy can be exported to the UK which has a far larger electrical demand than here and could probably take every watt exported.

Unfortunately it seems that there is a bit more to this though the official green good news because apparently there are plans by a number of companies to erect up to 2,300 wind turbines in the Midlands of Ireland. Is blighting our landscape for the UK the way to solve the energy problem? ... read full story / add a comment

An insight into prison life in Ireland, namely Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon. On 21st April 2010 I was convicted of assaulting a number of Gardaí in relation to Shell to Sea protests and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Remission for good behaviour means that prisoners will have their sentences reduced by a quarter, once you keep your nose clean. I was given credit for 2 weeks time served previously in 2009, before I was bailed out pending my appeal. So I spent 4 months in jail from April to August in the summer of 2010. ... read full story / add a comment