Environment

HUGE numbers of dead sea birds are washing up on Clare’s coastline due to avian flu, prompting a call for state assistance to deal with the issue. “We are seeing huge numbers of dead sea birds around our coast, in particular gannnets, due to the avian flu,” said Councillor Cillian Murphy. “I’m not a scientist but what I understand from speaking to  people who are is that normally the avian flu would die off in the summer when they’re in their colonies, but this particular variation hasn’t, and it has really impacted on seabirds really heavily.” With many of the birds washing up on beaches, he said that Clare County Council staff members have to deal with them appropriately and need protective clothing. He put forward a motion requesting the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine “allocate funding to local authorities for the additional resources required to deal with the costs of cleaning up and managing the consequences of …

DEVELOPERS of a controversial East Clare wind farm have been urged to honour a promise to fund local sports clubs, in the event of a legal challenge to the recent grant of permission for 19 turbines on the slopes of Slieve Bearnagh.  In correspondence seem by The Champion, Deputy Michael McNamara told FuturEnergy Ireland that the funding promise would amount to “an ugly bribe”, if it were to be withheld in the likely event of a challenge.  The Scariff TD, who headed up the Carrownagowan Concern Group, also repeated fears originally voiced in a major submission, over the potential for landslides. In his letter to FuturEnergy – a renewable venture between Coillte and the ESB – Deputy McNamara said he was still not satisfied that those risks have been addressed.  The Independent TD said that one of the aspects of the planning application that concerned him most was the promise by Coillte to fund local sports clubs, contingent on the …

MONITORING of water quality in popular bathing areas needs to be extended outside the official bathing season to protect the increasing number of people who are swimming throughout the year. That’s according to Councillor Cillian Murphy, who was informed at a recent HSE West Forum meeting that five swimming ban notices were issued in local bathing areas from June to September this year. The Kilkee Councillor expressed concern that swimmers have no idea about the standard of water quality outside the bathing season. If monitoring was extended throughout the year, the HSE West Forum member said people would have the benefit of getting a good picture of what water quality is like at different times of the year. He said that once a public notice is issued about a problem with the quality of bathing water, this should be followed up with an investigation and identification of the possible source and solutions. This is important, he stressed, in view of …

QUESTIONS have been raised over the environmental impact of a new 60-home estate proposed for Tulla, with planners looking for more information on how sensitive habitats and bat species might be affected. Wiskin Property Developments is seeking permission for 15 detached houses; 36 semi-detached houses and nine terraced houses on a site of just over three hectares at Loughaun South. To date, four submissions have been sent to planners by locals living close to the site, and a representation has been made by Councillor Joe Cooney. Given the sensitive nature of the site, the Council has asked the developers for Further Information (FI) on several aspects of their plans. In the first instance, more details have been sought on mitigation measures to protect a nearby riverside woodland habitat. Planners have also asked for an explanation of how these measures will be integrated into the proposed estate. Under the current County Development Plan, any development at the site must taken into …

LANDOWNERS in upland areas of East Clare have raised concerns about a drop in payments for the protection of habitats for the endangered Hen Harrier.  Large tracts of North East Clare form part of the Slieve Aughty Special Protection Area (SPA) and farmers are incentivised to use methods that protect these ground-nesting birds, who live on bogs and marginal lands.  The Hen Harrier Project is managed from Oranmore and, according to Caher-based Councillor Pat Hayes, has been working very well. He said, however, that landowners in the scheme are now facing reduced payments, which could, in turn, make participation and conservation measures less attractive. “Up to now, the scheme has been somewhat independent of the Department of Agriculture,” Councillor Hayes said. “Farmers in the GLAS Scheme also got a top up for working with the Hen Harrier Project. Now, it looks like this will all be mainstreamed under the new ACRES [Agri-Climate Rural Environment] Scheme, through the Department of Agriculture. …

Michele Severn spoke to Bridget Ginnity about her expectations when she had a smart meter installed and how her actual expereience has played out We got a new Smart Meter installed a few months ago and I wanted to avail of the new information that I thought the technology would provide. I wanted to know, for example, how much boiling a kettle or having the shower on, or Immersion actually costs me. I wanted to know my real time consumption. With the old meter I could go outside, stand and observe the meter. I could see the disk faster or slower when an appliance was in use and I could see the fractional unit change. When the Smart Meter was installed I thought I would at least get all the functionality of the old meter and hopefully without having to go outside – but no. There is no longer any spinning disk, just a digital number which has no fractional …

A CLARE-BASED nature sanctuary has been announced as one of the winners of the National Lottery Good Causes awards. Lough Grainey Nature Sanctuary, a not-for-profit community organisation dedicated to preserving a vital area of wilderness in the Lough Grainey valley, protecting its biodiversity, rewilding and restoring its ancient oak forest, and helping children and adults to reconnect with nature, won the National Heritage award. The team of the Lough Grainey Nature Sanctuary were delighted to receive Good Causes funding that allowed them to conduct a bat presence survey and to install a NatureCam trail camera on the land of the Nature Sanctuary, to study the wildlife without disturbance. Marina Levitina, PhD, chairperson of Lough Grainey Nature Sanctuary, said, “Rewilding and nature restoration is one of the aims of our project, it is about giving the land back to Nature and allowing Nature to restore herself with minimum human intervention. “At the time of the global climate emergency and biodiversity crisis, …

With the world in the throes of an energy crisis and people anxiously awaiting their bills this winter, Bridget Ginnity provides some helpful suggestions on how you can reduce your energy consumption and provides you with a guide on just how much each appliance and activity is costing you Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ll know that electricity bills have sky rocketed. The average bill is expected to be almost €2,200 a year, or €180 a month. That’s about €1,000 higher than this time last year if you are on the best rate. It could be another €1000 with some suppliers. Even with government intervention, we can expect higher prices to stay for the immediate future. Fretting about the bills or fighting over who left the lights on is a normal response but doesn’t do our mental and physical wellbeing any good. We can feel more in control if we understand the most effective …