Deputy Noel Coonan has welcomed the news that last Friday’s deadline for receiving applications under the Warmer Homes Scheme has been extended.
Due to a large demand for the scheme, no closing date has been decided for acceptance of forms. The local Fine Gael TD said North Tipperary people can still apply by ringing his office on 0504 32544 or contacting Sustainable Energy Ireland on 1800 250 204.
“My constituency offices have been inundated with queries about the scheme and in my conversation with Sustainable Energy Ireland I was informed last week that last Friday’s deadline was scrapped. This is welcome news for people who were anxiously trying to apply before week’s end,” said Deputy Coonan.
The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes that are lived in by people on low incomes. It is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Ireland’s national energy agency. To qualify, you must live in a privately-owned home and be eligible for fuel allowance. A standard cost of approximately €150 may be charged for the work with the rest covered by the scheme.
Regional and community-based organisations are funded to carry out the work, which includes:
• Attic insulation
• Draught proofing
• Lagging jackets
• Energy efficient lighting
• Cavity wall insulation
• Energy advice.
Teagasc Agri Environment Conference 2010 in Tipperary
On September 7th next at Ballykisteen Hotel, Tipperary, the Teagasc Agri-environment Conference 2010 will provide a forum for those working in the agri environmental arena to receive an update on the most topical environmental issues affecting agriculture in Ireland today.
This is a departure from previous conferences (formerly known as the National REPS Conference) in the sense that discussions will not be limited to agri-environmental schemes.
The Conference will focus on practical outcomes from current agri-environment research, advisory experience as well as examining policy drivers and their potential impacts.
This year’s event will comprise an indoor conference in the morning followed by a farm walk on the Solohead Research Farm in the afternoon. The morning conference will hear from experts on environmental research and policy while the afternoon farm walk will consist of a number of stations located on the Solohead Research Farm which will provide delegates with a practical insight into the work carried out by Teagasc Environmental Programme.
Amongst the subject matter for discussion is included:-
Fertilizer Use in Ireland – “Getting the Balance Right” – Speaker Mr Stan Lalor, Research Officer, Teagasc, Johnstown Castle.
Phenology – ” How Natural Cycles of Wildlife are Changing” – Speaker Dr. Alison Donnelly, Botany Department, Trinity College Dublin.
The keynote address will be delivered by broadcaster Duncan Stewart on the topic “Sustainability in Agriculture – Rising to the challenge.”
This year the afternoon session will be in the form of a farm walk at the Solohead Research Farm which is located five minutes from the Ballykisteen Hotel. Due to parking restrictions, delegates will be transported by coach to and from the farm. Delegates are therefore advised to bring suitable footwear and clothing for the farm walk.
Conference Fee is just €80 per person which includes refreshments and lunch. Click here for on line booking form.
Part of the beautiful Lough Derg shore line viewed from Co.Tipperary
Branches of the Shannon Protection Alliance in Nenagh, Co Tipperary and Athlone Co. Westmeath have welcomed the setting up of a further lobby group in Limerick, which oppose the plan to extract millions of litres of water from Lough Derg’s shoreline in Co.Tipperary. This new opposition comes as a result of Dublin City Council unveiling plans to extract 500 million litres of water from Lough Derg to supply the greater Dublin region.
This controversial plan would envisage water being extracted at a rate of 500 million litres per day from an extraction point, possibly to be constructed at Terryglass, a village situated in North Tipperary.
Dublin City Council plans to pipe this water to Garryhinch Bog in Co. Offaly, where it intends to design “an innovative water based eco-park with fishing, boating, cycling, water and leisure sports on 500 acres, with a major water storage reservoir.”
The council expect that the water stored at this reservoir will not only be a new water source for the greater Dublin area, but will also supply counties Westmeath, Offaly, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare.
The project is set to cost €540m and will create an estimated 1,000 construction jobs over three years as well as generating ongoing, sustainable, long-term jobs in the Midlands in the management of the eco-park activities and a water plant.
Originally the plan was to extract the water from Lough Ree, but following massive public pressure from local communities in Athlone and despite the fact that the distance between Athlone and Dublin is shorter than that between Lough Derg and our capital city the vision has now changed, with Lough Derg becoming the favoured target for this extraction point.
Opposition to Dublin City Council’s vision for North Tipperary has been relatively muted, when compared to the military precision of organised opposition mounted from the Lough Ree area, where groups marched on our Dail last year demonstrating strong resistance to taking water from their local pond.
IRELAND’S trees could soon be under serious attack from a recently identified deadly disease, which experts have warned, poses a huge threat to Irish biodiversity and could spell disaster for the country’s few remaining native forests.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed this week that it was investigating an outbreak of the fungal disease phytophthora ramorum, (Common Name - Sudden Oak Death) which so far has affected only a small number of Japanese larch trees, Beech trees and Noble Fir trees in the Tipperary/Waterford region.
The department further confirmed that the disease had also been found in Northern Ireland and it was liaising closely with the North’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Japanese larch variety represent 3% of the total tree population in Ireland and it is believed that the disease may have spread from the US, where it killed millions of trees, travelling first to Britain and then into Ireland.
The outbreak of this fungus, which is related to the potato blight, Phytophthora infestans, could pose a particular threat to the 1% of Ireland’s remaining precious oak forests if Irish oaks proved susceptible to the strain. It would also have a disastrous effect on plantations of single tree species and eventually effect on the insects and birds life that these trees support. Tourism could also be effected with scenic areas being prohibited to visitors as part of controls.
Phytophthora Ramorum was first discovered in California in 1995 when large numbers of Tanoaks died mysteriously. This disease which can be transmitted by wind and rainwater, also infects a great number of other plant species, significantly rhododendrons, causing a non-fatal foliage disease commonly known as ‘ramorum dieback’.
The disease is a fungus-like organism and its spores enjoy 100% survival rates at temperatures of 0°C and 20°C. The first recognisable symptom is a burgundy red or thick black sap liquid, bleeding from cankers on the tree’s bark surface. The disease trives in cool, wet climates.
Just one of the major mechanisms of dispersal for this fungus, is rainwater splashing its spores onto other susceptible plants and into watercourses. Over use of man made drainage schemes, which must take responsibility for a great deal of recent flooding in Ireland, can insure spores can be carried for great distances. Hikers, mountain bikes, those involved in equestrian persuits and people engaged in other various outdoor activities, may also unwittingly move the pathogen into unaffected areas. In most cases, cleanliness practices involve the cleaning of all potentially infested surfaces of all foliage and mud, before leaving an infested area, e.g. shoes, transport vehicles and animals, etc.
Interesting to note that phytophthora ramorum (Phytophthora comes from the Greek word phytón, meaning ‘plant’ ), the relative of phytophthora infestans or Potato Blight, was one of more than seventeen agents researched by the United States as potential biological weapons, before it suspended its biological weapons program, latter completed in 1973.
Households in Tipperary and nationally will soon be paying more than €500 a year in ‘Green Taxes’, and in a double blow, households who are already facing a 5% hike in electricity charges, due to an environmental levy, could soon be hit by a second price rise as early as September next.
These revelations come as hard-pressed families face a series of future Green Taxes on top of those already introduced by the present Coalition Government and despite the ESB recording profits of some €580million last year.
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan has sharply criticised the recently announced 5% hike in electricity costs as “Another assault on the most hard-pressed in North Tipperary and nationwide“.
The local Fine Gael TD empathised with numerous lobby groups who have strongly voiced their resistance to this hike and to the news that Energy Minister Eamon Ryan is to review electricity prices in September on top of October’s review.
Deputy Coonan said:
“On the ground in North Tipperary, this environmental levy means domestic users will pay a flat fee of €32.76 and small businesses will pay €99. Larger businesses will face a 5% rise on overall usage. The levy, known as a Public Servant Obligation (PSO) will be introduced in October. The flat fee will severely impact on elderly people who depend on their electric heater to keep them warm during the winter.Businesses are already struggling to stay open, farmers incomes continue to fall and hard-pressed families are continuously hit with a fall in take-home pay and social protection assistance. We already have the third highest electricity prices in the Eurozone and I don’t know how this Government, and those who support it in North Tipperary, can justify the latest hike. The Government has lost touch with people on the ground and this is clear in their failure to alert the public that there would be a 5% increase.”
Electricity bills also face a double whammy as a separate price review is due in September on top of the €156 million levy due to be imposed in October to subsidise peat and renewable energy generators. These measures come on top of carbon taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil.
Deputy Coonan has called on the Government to postpone this increase as a matter of urgency, pending a full review of the levy. Numerous businesses have warned the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) that further job losses will be imminent in the wake of any such levy being implemented.
However, a Commission for Energy Regulation spokesperson has said that it was obliged by legislation to introduce the PSO levy regardless of warnings about job losses, but that if the Government ask them to change the directive, then they will change it.
It is expected the PSO levy will raise about €160m a year and will be used by power firms to buy renewable energy.
“It is now solely within the remit of the present Government to give tax payers a break and postpone this latest measure which will contribute to a long, cold winter for North Tipperary people,” stated the Deputy
An open day will take place on Sunday next, July 25th at Matt Fogarty’s tree farm and nursery near Ballinderry, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Matt’s Tree Nursery holds a wide range of both native and exotic species and he has visited woods and arboretums around the world, the evidence of which can be seen growing here in Ballinderry.
The nursery is situated between Terryglass and Ballinderry close to beautiful Lough Derg. There are over 12 hectares of hardwood trees, hundreds of species, in varying sizes. The Deer and Pheasant run freely here and there are also an abundance of wild fowl living in and around the on-site pond area.
Matt won Farm Forester of the year in 1995 and Amenity Forester of the year in 2000. Warning however, Matt and Mary Fogarty’s passion for Mother Nature is very highly contagious, as seen when they guide groups, families or individuals through the tranquillity of their tree heaven.
As stated, there are over 12 hectares of different species to be admired and studied: e.g. Walnut, Oak, Copper Beech, and Spanish Chestnut, to Maple, Hornbeam, and the magnificent California Redwood, plus many others in different stages of maturity.
Imagine, If You Can, A World Without Trees
The American Soldier, Journalist and Poet Alfred Joyce Kilmer probably best described our love of this perennial woody plant in this simple poem.
“Trees” by Poet Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918)
I think that I shall never see – A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest – Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day – And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear – A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; – Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, – But only God can make a tree.
Another American poet Frederic Ogden Nash (1902–1971) well known for his light humorous verse, slightly changed the wording of this poem, lamenting the unnecessary destruction of our forests and the erection of massive wooden highway billboards, both adding to the destruction of our scenic environment.
“Trees” By Poet Frederic Ogden Nash (1902–1971)
I think that I shall never see, – A billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall, – I’ll never see a tree at all.
So if you are out and about this Sunday, you fancy a tree to enhance your dwelling place, don’t miss this opportunity to learn, at first hand, how you can grow a wide range of wonderful trees, many of which you will not be familiar, but which are very well suited to our Irish climate.
The era of Queen Victoria was a time of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military progress within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Before our independence, postboxes bore the insignia of British reigning monarchs. “VR”, “ER” and “GR” latter insignia referring to Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V.
Some of these beautiful boxes can still be seen in parts of Ireland today. Postboxes erected since 1922 bear Irish logos, e.g. a harp entwined with the letters SÉ, short for Saorstát Éireann and later PT (Posts and Telegraphs) and, since 1984, An Post.
Since 1861, The residents of Kilmoyler have been posting letters in one of these designer Victorian cast-iron postboxes, embedded in the ivy clad wall opposite the Lady Gregory public house since 1861. Alas, now in this present age of speedy communication and sophistication, this simple luxury is no more, thanks to snails.
Recently the local postman noticed this mailbox had been infiltrated by snails who were munching on the envelopes contained their-in. On reporting this matter, An Post decided to suspend its daily collection and seal the box causing not a little complaining from local letter writers.
So Why Have Snails In Tipperary Begun Invading Our Perfectly Good Postal System?
In their natural habitat, land snails eat mushrooms, fruit, leaves and any other kind of vegetation they can find. Mostly, snails eat living plants, but can also eat decaying ones. Other forms of food include plant bark, flowers and algae. In order to get a nutritional supply of calcium for their shells, snail food includes limestone and they also eat ready available chalk from rocks.
Snails however also can easily acquire a taste for damp paper and cardboard, because same are mostly made from a fibre called cellulose that comes from trees harvested from plantations and forests. Wood chips are mechanically and/or chemically treated to release these fibres. This produces a pulp which is then mixed with large amounts of water to make a mush that is passed over a continuous, rapidly moving mesh. The water is drawn through the mesh, leaving the fibres behind. These damp fibres are then passed over a series of rollers to flatten and dry it, then rolled onto huge spools, and sent to factories for cutting and shaping. So remember that paper is made from plant materials and snails simply see it as another food source.
Snails also do not like hot and dry conditions as presently being experienced in Co.Tipperary. They like their atmosphere moist or humid and not too bright, so where better to spend their slow moving leisurely time than in a cast iron letter box, whose dark interior walls are covered in condensation.
So What Is The Solution To This Snail Mail Problem?
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers (ICMSA) said it would schedule a meeting of the European Milk Board (EMB) in Dublin to coincide with Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş‘ forthcoming visit.
Although the Commissioner’s travel arrangements have not been confirmed, it is expected he will arrive on the evening of September 30th and depart on October 1st, 2010, following scheduled meetings. However, a spokesperson for the EU Commission in Dublin said the arrangements were “very tentative” at the moment and were subject to change.
The farm body said it had proposed to the EMB that it hold its next conference in Dublin in October but would be prepared to move that date forward so that the Commissioner could be in attendance.
An ICMSA spokesman said the conference will will be attended by dairy farmers from all over the European Union.
It is understood that Commissioner Ciolos has expressed a wish to visit a farm while in Ireland depending on time constraints.
The ICMSA have proposed the farm of Mr Pat McCormack, Lisheen, Co Tipperary, to host the Commissioner’s anticipated farm visit. Mr McCormack’s is considered one of the best young farmers in the Munster region and his expertise has been recognised by his recent election to the ICMSA Dairy Committee to host the Commissioner’s much anticipated farm visit.
Staying on farming matters:-
Teagasc Forced To Consider Turning Away Agri Students
Hundreds of agricultural students are expected to be refused entry to Teagasc courses this Autumn, due to a massive surge in applications.
Our local water ways, namely the river Suir, which flows through the town of Thurles and the Cabragh Wetlands on the outskirts of the town, are particularly attractive at this time of year.
The native White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba) and the invasive Yellow flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) are in full bloom in Cabragh Wetlands, while on the river Suir our year round resident Mute Swans (Dan and Doris) have finally introduced their surviving three cygnets, hatched in mid May, to the local residents.
The male (called a Cob), and the female (called a Pen) birds, usually attempt to mate for life, although it is not true to say that if one of the birds were to die, that the other would necessarily pine away. It is very possible for an adult bird to find an alternative mate.
Their nest is a huge mound of mixed material, normally assorted vegetation, consisting of sticks dried grasses and rushes, are constructed at the water’s edge. The nest is built by the female, while the male supplies the materials.
The female lays up to seven eggs between late April and early May. Both sexes incubate the eggs, which hatch within 35-41 days. The young birds (called cygnets) sometimes ride playfully on their parents’ backs as seen in this video clip.
The youngsters remain with the adult birds for four or five months before being driven from the breeding ground in mid Autumn.
Swans normally find enough food in the wild without supplementary feeding. It is only in freezing weather that extra food can be helpful. Many people like feeding bread to swans and while this is unlikely to do them any real harm in the long term, it is no substitute for the proper diet that the birds themselves will seek out. Grain, such as wheat, and vegetable matter, especially lettuce and potatoes, can be fed to swans.
Food should be thrown into the water to avoid encouraging the young birds onto the bank, thus putting their lives in danger.
A visit to Cabragh Wetlands is such a peaceful experience and for those who enjoy a closeness with nature, it is well worth a visit, particularly in the evening time.
Music used in the video clip is by Johannes Brahms, entitled “The Cradle Song”.
The question of whether the need to abate greenhouse gas emissions should be seen as a cost or an opportunity for Irish agriculture will be debated at this year’s Nuffield Ireland Conference which takes place at the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Thurles, on 17 June next.
With the theme ‘Carbon – a cost or opportunity for farming‘, it has attracted some of the country’s leading climate change experts.
Speakers will include Paud Evans, the chief principal officer at the Department of Agriculture, Owen Ryan from the climate change section of the Department of the Environment, Teagasc scientists Gary Lanigan, Johnstown Castle, Matthew Deighton and Laurence Shaloo, Moorepark; Thomas Ryan, IFA, and Justin McCarthy, Irish Farmers Journal.
The conference will be briefed on current and future Government policy on climate change, while the use of grass in various farming systems as a means of combating greenhouse gas emissions also will be discussed.
Attendace at this conference costs €30 (€35 after 11 June) and further details can be obtained from the IFA (Irish Farmers Association) Telephone:00 353 (1) 4500266 Fax: 00 353 (1) 4551043.
Deputy Noel Coonan has welcomed the news that last Friday’s deadline for receiving applications under the Warmer Homes Scheme has been extended.
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