The dismembered pigeon parts prompted me to look up. Peregrine Falcon. Possibly a juvenile. Blackpool. #cork

Reports to the EPA show multiple wells and streams on site contain contaminated water in excess of regulatory limits. This figure has been broadly similar since at least 2021. Some water sources on site have become significantly more contaminated since last year. The EPA has taken no action.

Arsenic 133 times above legal level found in Aughinish Alumina groundwater

Water testing reports from Co Limerick refinery show more than half its wells and streams contain contaminated water breaching Irish rules

irishtimes.com

Primetime on worsening quality in our waterbodies. #cork youtu.be/2Ho4h805oXo?...

'Our river is dying' – Locals warn of strain on Ireland's waters | Prime Time

YouTube video by RTÉ News

youtu.be

Mink investigates Sobocam 2 trail camera. People sometimes mistake mink for otters. Compared to otters mink are smaller, fluffier darker fur (not always) with more pointed facial features. #cork

Slab it over says Jack Chambers. FF and FG are very bad for the environment. #cork

‘Concern about the climate is legitimate only insofar as it does not get in the way of whatever Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael politicians deem to be the necessary projects to win votes in particular local areas.’ www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Judicial reviews are a fundamental part of democracy — not a dig at the Government by greedy lawyers

A judicial review is any case taken against any public body that may have broken the law — it's the separation of powers working as intended, writes Cathal Malone

irishexaminer.com

Invasive mink on the River Bride this afternoon. A party of three. Otters and at least one fox are not too far away so this little group may be living on borrowed time. #cork

We see that a submission sent well before the close of submissions (against the OPW plan for Blackpool) has just been uploaded to the DPER website. If you made a submission and you can't see it on this page email the department and ask where it is. Tell us too 😉 #cork www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Submissions Received 2025

gov.ie

Let's call it early for what it is (having learned the warning signs from other countries): Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael backsliding on the rule of law.

John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@thinkorswim.bsky.social · 2w ago

Astonishing attack on civil society and environmental justice by a government lacking either vision or basic competence. www.thejournal.ie/jack-chamber...

Astonishing attack on civil society and environmental justice by a government lacking either vision or basic competence. www.thejournal.ie/jack-chamber...

Chambers claims climate law has been 'weaponised' by NGOs to halt infrastructure projects

Friends of the Earth have said disapplying climate laws sets ‘an alarming precedent’.

thejournal.ie

Jack Chambers confirmed the Blackpool Flood Relief Scheme last week. A number of conditions were added to the confirmation. He had no updated scheme drawings He had no updated environmental reports He had no updated costs information To reflect the impacts of these conditions on the scheme.

Things will only change when jail time is involved. Shame on the estate agency too. www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/crime-c...

Man and woman in court after 57 nests ‘blasted’ off Laois house

The woman who works for an estate agent directed the man to clean the house

leinsterexpress.ie

An otter shoves our trailcamera over after giving it a good sniff. Otters are rarely deterred by the presence of our cameras. A good sniffing for a few days and then they ignore them. #cork

Why did Blackpool Village get hit so badly by flooding in 2012 and 2013? #cork

Otter on the Lee this morning. One of a pair. Notice how the hind legs are doing the hard work. We are very lucky to have otters in Cork City. Otters are supposed to be strictly protected in Ireland but the state is one of the worst culprits when it comes to destruction of their habitat. #cork

The government signs up to environmental protections and then pays consultants lots and lots of taxpayer money to interpret these protections in a way that is favourable to whatever project might be held up by these protections.

Cover up the river cheer our local Northside TD's! We really do need better representation here in Blackpool. #cork www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...

Cork floods: Minister approves €20.5m Blackpool flood relief scheme

'Anyone who was in Blackpool in June 2012 remembers what the River Bride can do when it turns': Broad welcome for scheme

irishexaminer.com

Otter glides silently along the Lee this evening. People drinking pints just feet away completely oblivious to its presence. Video by myself. #corkcity

This is why access to justice is such a critical issue. If you care about the environment you should care about A2J. 'I think that the courts will actually stand up for enforceability of carbon budgets & climate action plans, but the Government certainly doesn’t see it as a priority,” Logue says.'

Fred Logue @fplogue.bsky.social · 3w ago

You can’t buy advertising of that quality”: The accidental climate lawyer taking on the State From physics to the courtroom, solicitor Fred Logue drives some of Ireland’s most significant environmental litigation. thecurrency.news/articles/230...

Here we go again. Minister Jack Chambers signs off on the Blackpool Flood Scheme. The decision has been informed by environmental consultants CAAS. CAAS also advised the previous minister who signed off on the same scheme in 2021.(successfully challenged by us) #cork www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Notice under the ARTERIAL DRAINAGE ACT 1945 (as amended) - River Bride (Blackpool) Drainage Scheme

gov.ie

Beautiful Damoiselle in the garden this afternoon. It hung around long enough for me to grab a camera but refused to provide a decent wing spread. Selfish damselfly. #cork

‘There is little doubt that the State’s motivation is to remove access to the courts by erecting insurmountable financial barriers to ordinary people and their associations who wish to take cases to uphold the law.’ www.antaisce.org/News/environ...

Environmental groups launch legal challenge against new regulations that severely restrict access to justice

Together, An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment initiated a court challenge to new regulations that put a cap on the costs litigants in environmental legal cases can recover if they win their...

antaisce.org

Fine Gael have been in government for 15 years straight. Fianna Fáil have been in government for 62 out of the last 100 years. But it's the Green Party's fault Ireland is an infrastructure and planning basket case? Delusional and zero accountability.

We were promised that the Arterial Drainage Act would be reviewed- instead we got the fast tracking of the designation of many arterially drained waters as heavily modified to reduce their overall ecological ambition, while the Arterial Drainage Act remains unchanged. Deckchairs on the Titanic.

Sustainable Water Network (SWAN)@swanireland.ie · last mo.

"We would say it is legislation from a bygone era" Watch back our answers to questions on the Arterial Drainage Act yesterday at an Oireachtas Committee meeting. There is a commitment to review the act in the Government's Water Action Plan but nothing has been done on it.

This is the second batch of Great Tits reared in the hole in our bathroom wall this season. I just happened to catch the brood of four leaving the nest yesterday afternoon. You can hear the parents calling to encourage them. Filmed with ultra zoom lens from inside our house. #cork

Angling Council of Ireland: As many as two million adult salmon returned annually to Irish rivers during the 1970s. Current estimates suggest annual returns of fewer than 150,000–250,000 fish, a decline of approx. 90 per cent over five decades.

Pollution has led to huge drop in salmon and trout numbers in Ireland, Oireachtas to hear

‘Salmonids’ decline serves as a warning that wider ecological deterioration is occurring,’ Angling Council of Ireland says

irishtimes.com

📣LAST CHANCE!! Use your voice for nature and submit to the consultation on Ireland’s Nature Restoration Plan before July 1st. To have your say email your views to nationalrestorationplan@npws.gov.ie or visit our website for more info swanireland.ie/take-action/...

I see the two illegal scramblers around Blackpool on a regular basis. The hooded and balaclava wearing riders pull wheelies across the N20 junction and cycle along the footpath at high speed. It won’t be too long before one of them ploughs into a car or pedestrian. #cork

Cycling along the Watercourse Rd with a full length mirror under the arm and a shopping bag in the hand. It made me smile. #cork

The Government is refusing to provide funding for maintaining greenways and active travel routes.

Councillors angered over Government refusal to fund greenway maintenance

Decision for cash-strapped Cork municipal districts to cover costs described as 'appalling'

irishexaminer.com