Tag Archives: Ruairí Ó Conchúir

WORLD Wetlands Day will be celebrated in Shannon this Thursday, February 2, at a lunchtime event to explore their importance to the environment. Wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, world economies, and more. Yet, nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, and we are losing wetlands three times faster than forests. It is urgent that we raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss and encourage actions to conserve and restore them. World Wetlands Day is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these important ecosystems and two community events are taking place for Clare. The Shannon Town Community Wetlands Project in conjunction with the Local Authority Waters Programme will host a very special lunchtime event to explore how wetland restoration work has occurred on this important site. The event, led by LAWPRO’s Community Water Officer, Ruairí Ó Conchúir, …

A COMMUNITY information meeting will take place in North East Clare to highlight the work of an important water quality initiative.  The event, which will focus on the catchment of Lough Graney, will be held at Lough Graney Community Hall in Flagmount at 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 5. The Graney Catchment is one of six pilot catchments in Ireland which have been selected for inclusion in a new €20 million European Union funded project called ‘Waters of LIFE’. The initiative aims to address the decline in water quality in Ireland’s most pristine and sensitive river catchments, like the Graney Catchment, which covers East Clare and part of South East Galway. Pristine, or near pristine waterbodies (rivers and lakes), are called ‘high-status objective waterbodies’ and are assigned a ‘Blue Dot’ to distinguish them as ‘the best of the best’ among Irish waterbodies. Blue Dot waterbodies are mainly located in remote and lightly populated areas, with many of them found in upland …

VIEWS are being sought on measures to improve water quality in Clare, with two public meetings taking place online this week. On Tuesday, February 15, the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) meeting will focus on the Shannon, Killaloe and Ennis Municipal Districts. The meeting will cover the following catchments Lower Shannon, Lough Derg & Fergus Catchments. A meeting on Thursday evening will focus on the West Clare Municipal District and will cover the following catchments the Inagh River, Shannon Estuary and the Malbay catchment. The meetings will also look at the draft River Basin Management Plan (2022-2027). This blueprint sets out the environmental objectives to protect and restore rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters together with the actions and measures required to ensure those objectives are achieved. The online public consultation meetings offer an opportunity for local people to input into the draft plan, to make a submission and to get involved in helping to protect and restore local water …

DECLINING water quality across Clare will be addressed in a new draft plan for the management of river basins, councillors have been told.  An overview of the process of creating a new plan for the period 2022 to 2027 was presented at a meeting of the council’s committee on Physical Development last week.  Community Water Officer for the South West, Ruairí Ó Conchúir outlined how views are being sought across the county which will feed into a national plan for protecting Ireland’s water bodies. Outlining the situation in this county, Mr Ó Conchúir noted that the percentage of ‘high status’ waterways here have fallen from 14% to 3% between 2013 and 2018. In addition, the number of water bodies rated as being in poor condition also increased by a third since 2017 “We have seen improvements in the worst of the worst, and decline in the best of the best,” he said. He added that the biggest pressures on rivers …

IRISH Water has been accused of creating “a huge obstacle” to the development of rural Clare. At a meeting of the council’s committee on Physical Development, frustration was aired at the fact that the authority is striving to protect water quality while Irish Water is unable to provide critical infrastructure in some locations. Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy made her comments following a presentation from Ruairí Ó Conchúir of the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO). Mr Ó Conchúir outlined the pressures on waterways across the Mid-West region, after which the Fianna Fáil member asked him if he believed there is a policy problem when it comes to funding waste water treatment. Thanking Mr Ó Conchúir for his presentation, the Ennis member noted the recent criticism of Irish Water by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the discharge of raw sewage at a number of coastal locations. “I want your opinion on this,” she said. “Do you think a different approach needs …