Environment - Thurles Information

Saharan Sand Arrives In Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Many people across Tipperary and indeed Ireland, woke up to dirty looking vehicles, yesterday morning, despite same remaining stationary over last weekend.
All vehicles without a garage or not sheltered, were found covered in a light form of brown dust on the roofs, windows and windscreens of their vehicles.

There is, however, thankfully an explanation for this dust.
Same is being generated by clouds of sand particles coming from the Sahara Desert; same reaching very high altitudes. The particles are being transported worldwide, suspended in the air, covering thousands of miles and causing a decrease in European air quality; sand being visible on our streets and a reddish/orange sky colour in our atmosphere.

A few showers added overnight on Saturday and early on Sunday last and the result was Sahara dust being brought down to ground level, out of our atmosphere, all across Ireland and indeed other European countries including Spain, France and Germany.

Satellite images have shown huge amounts of this dust spreading across Europe, as people share eerie pictures of glowing orange skies.

This phenomenon is not new, often happening several times a year when big dust storms in the Sahara coincide with our southerly wind patterns; latter, this week, bringing our promised increase in temperatures.

The lack of rain over the past few days has meant that we haven’t really seen as much of this Saharan dust being grounded, as we have observed in previous years.

Vernal Equinox Occurs Today, March 20th.

Spring is in the air here in Thurles.

**Exquisite Spring Narcissus ‘Carlton’ *(Large-cupped Daffodils)* displaying the Ukrainian colours today, on view at O’Driscolls Garden Centre here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.

The spring equinox or vernal equinox (from the Latin ‘vernalis,’ which is derived from the Latin word for spring, ‘ver.’), this year (2022), occurs on today, March 20th, marking the first day of the ‘astronomical spring‘, technically occurring at 3.33pm (15:33pm).

Our alternative ‘meteorological spring‘ of course fell on March 1st 2022 and will last until May 31st, with summer starting on June 1st, autumn beginning on September 1st and winter following on December 1st.

An equinox is a phenomenon which only happens twice a year; once during the spring, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and once during the Autumn, latter occurring around September 23rd, in the Northern Hemisphere, thus marking the beginning of autumn.

Equinoxes were used by early civilisations to divide up their year. During the equinox, day and night is measured around the same length. The name coming from the Latin word equi (meaning ‘equal’) and nox (meaning ‘night’); marking the two points in the year when the equator is the closest part of Earth to the sun, with both the northern and southern hemispheres sharing sunlight equally.

Today’s ‘astronomical spring‘ will last until the summer solstice, which this year will occur on Tuesday 21st June.

The days, thankfully, will now begin to get longer with the nights shorter as the earth wakes up from its winter hibernation, and Tipperary can usually look forward to the promise of a little more sunshine.

EPA Welcomes Judgement In Relation To Cessation Of Extraction Of Peat By Harte Peat.

The EPA welcomes the High Court Judgement of Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan today, in the matter of the EPA’s application for injunctive relief for the cessation of the extraction of peat by Harte Peat, from a large area of peatlands in Counties Westmeath, Cavan and Monaghan.

The Judgment also concerned Harte Peat’s judicial review challenging the EPA’s decision not to consider a licence application.

The High Court granted the injunctive relief sought by the EPA, in respect of certain areas from which Harte Peat is extracting peat. The Court held that the public interest in ensuring that peat extraction is carried out in compliance with both domestic and EU environmental law is the single most significant factor warranting the granting of the Order sought by the EPA.

The Court also indicated that it proposed to grant Harte Peat declaratory relief in respect of inadequate reasons provided by the EPA in its decision on the licence application.

However, the Court held that the decision of the EPA not to consider the licence application was correct.

The EPA is currently considering the implications of this Judgment, including its implications for the EPA’s enforcement of other unauthorised peat extraction activities.

The Judgement in this case can be found HERE.

Citizen Scientists Measure Pollution From Traffic.

The “Clear Air Together Citizen Science Project”, led by the EPA and the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, has worked with 1000 Dublin citizen scientists, to measure air pollution from traffic in their local areas.
The results clearly show that higher nitrogen dioxide levels are linked with higher traffic volumes.
The results will be used by the EPA to to support air quality modelling in Dublin and will be used by Dublin local authorities to support air quality management.
None of the results indicate a breach of EU air quality limit (40 µg/m3).
Clean Air Together is moving to Cork in late 2022.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and An Taisce’s Environmental Education Unit, this evening hosted a webinar with the citizen scientists of the Clean Air Together project, to present the results of the study.

During October 2021, these citizen scientists measured levels of the harmful air pollutant, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2). The information gathered by them will now be used by the EPA to assist with air quality modelling and forecasting.

Commenting on the project, Mr Andy Fanning, Programme Manager in EPA, said: “Clean Air Together is a real success story for Citizen Science, with almost one thousand residents in Dublin measuring the levels of air pollution in their local areas. While the EPA has fixed air pollution monitoring sites in Dublin, this project has given us data about many areas that we are currently unable to monitor. This is the first time such a study has been run in Ireland and we are thrilled to see the level of interest. Unfortunately, we had to turn some people away and very much hope we can find ways to work with them again in the future. We simply couldn’t have completed this project without Dublin’s citizen scientists”.

Results showed that, while NO2 levels across Dublin city and county were generally good, higher levels were found near busy roads. This is not unexpected, as NO2 comes mainly from traffic. None of the levels reported in this project exceeded the EU annual average limit (40 µg/m3), but it should be noted that lower levels of NO2, are better for everyone’s health. All results are available on the Clean Air Together project site, HERE.

Ms Sabrina Moore, Clean Air Together project manager An Taisce’s Environmental Education Unit added: “The level of interest in this project shows people’s growing awareness of the importance of good air quality in their city, and a genuine interest in helping to protect their environment. So, what can we all do for our air quality? Where possible we should try to limit our personal car use by using public transport more often, or by walking or cycling. Continued investments in these infrastructures will make these choices easier. By shifting our behaviour we can make a difference and ensure that air quality is healthier across the city”.

For further information contact: Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office 053-9170770 (24 hours) or media@epa.ie

Flying Car Confirmed Fit To Fly, Following European Certification.

Before rushing out to buy your electric car or vehicle fitted with self-driving car technology, first take note that a flying car has at last completed over 70 hours of meticulous testing to receive an official certificate of airworthiness.

The vehicle, which received the certificate from the Transport Authority of Slovakia, in central Europe, has completed more than 200 take-offs and landings, deeming it fit to fly.

Questions Being Asked Locally Here In Thurles.

Is this the reason Mr Jackie Cahill TD and Mr Michael Lowry TD, never bothered, over the last 25 year period, to ask the governments to support and implement the Thurles Ring-Road?
Will this address the issue of local elected councillors failing to fill potholes in our streets?
Will we have to pay Air Tax as well as Road Tax?
Will Ryan Air and Aer Lingus now become redundant?
Will fuel tanks be big enough to get us to Lanzarote for the weekend?
Are passports, Covid certificates and Passenger locator forms now obsolete?
How will public private partnerships collect [through Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII], their motorway tolls?
What new carbon taxes will the Green Party introduce to halt diesel engine exhaust contaminants/emissions?
Will Gardaí now be given fighter planes instead of squad cars, to intercept drunken and drug addicted drivers?

It took some 8 specialists over 100,000 hours to metamorphose the final mathematical specs into a fully functioning prototype.

The AirCar’s recent accreditation means it is now one step closer to becoming mass produced across Europe.

In development since 2017 and boasting a 1.6L BMW engine, the certified model is now officially in line with the standards of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).