Biodiversity – A Polite Name For Convenient Neglect In Thurles.

People who erect signs in neglected, often polluted areas, claiming that the area is being “Managed for Wildlife”, sadly in many cases suffer from delusions of adequacy.
When opportunity permits or when you next exercise your dog, take a stroll along the pavement on Emmett Street in the town. Here over the stone wall two “Managed for Wildlife” signs exist. [Note this same area was ‘strimmed’, bare, twice this year, making walking and flying insects homeless, but the wildlife signs continue to remain in place.]

To those who claimed at a recent Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) meeting that they regularly entered the River Suir to remove discarded litter, sadly, the evidence seen by me today contradicts that claim. No one person has entered the river Suir, in the past 2 years, as images taken of litter today and in the past will confirm. See here and then view images shown in video, accompanying this report, (Note the timber pallets).

In an email sent to Thurles Municipal District Council requesting that for the sake of appearances, “a group of volunteers might be assembled to clean up the entirety of the River Suir from Barry’s Bridge to the Swinging gates at the junction of Emmett Street – Same work to include removal of sediment and reeds/weeds from the area“, alas the reply came back in the negative. Tipperary Co. Co. Council would have objections as would OPW and Inland Fisheries. We already were aware that LAWPRO would object.
At least we now know the funded bodies responsible for the decline and destruction of our River Suir over the past 12 years.

At the junction at Emmett Street and Thomand Road, take a walk through the “Swinging Gates” entrance. Glance to your right to view dumped, strewn, sacks of what appears to be ladies assorted garments, which have lain there for months. This area is also “Managed for Wildlife”, as is the area travelling west from the children’s play park, close to the foot bridge. Here more garments are discarded; throw away, no longer wanted or needed.
Yes, this is the work of an uncouth, uncaring resident, but nowadays we pay hefty community taxes to have such matters cleaned up in a timelier fashion. Again I ask the question, “For what exactly do we pay Property Tax?

The Need To Attract Tourism.
Some weeks ago local councillors were making local headlines, seeking that a bus should immediately be funded by the government to transport passengers from Thurles Railway Station into Thurles town, latter now almost devoid of its once rich heritage, thanks to the same councillors and their officials.
At Thurles Railway Station, regrettably yet another “Managed for Wildlife” sign is parked at the end of the platform, its deluded phizog guarding a small grassy area of ground 4.6mts (15ft) x 1.3mtrs (4ft). The terminally dehydrated grass here is no longer cut and since the sign was erected, this latter, flowerless plot, just described, together with the available quality flower pots strewn about the area; (latter previously voluntarily tended by locals,) today demonstrates a total lack of ambition for our town’s first impressions. (See Video). Truth is, if I were travelling to Thurles by rail, I would get back on the train.

Croke Street in Thurles for the most part has set an example for the rest of the town. Despite local residences being landed with hideosity and dereliction, facing unto their homes, they have introduced flowers, in an effort to distract eyes from an unsightly, ugly, unfinished, concrete structure.

Protecting Biodiversity – A Polite Name For Lack Of Motivation And Neglect.
In Thurles, Co. Tipperary, ‘protecting biodiversity’ has become a polite name for neglect. As I stated on August 19th last, when it comes to areas within Thurles town, an outsider could be forgiven for thinking that our supposed “protection of biodiversity” is little more than a convenient disguise for neglect. What greets the eye in many places is not thoughtful conservation, but total dereliction; footpaths with weeds, vacant sites left to rot and green spaces littered with rubbish. This isn’t stewardship of the natural world; it is abandonment dressed up as environmental concern. Where real biodiversity currently exists in Thurles is to be tarmacked over, to build a new Drive-Thru McDonald’s burger joint, supported by Tipperary Co. Council.

Genuine biodiversity protection requires care, planning and pride of place; what Thurles, too often, shows is disregard, negligence and a shocking lack of ambition for our town’s appearance and well-being. If this is what passes for protecting our environment, then it is no wonder that so many residents feel our community is being failed at the most basic level.

It seems that the difference between the big business mindset and the mindset of environmentalists boils down to big business believing “I have rights” versus the environmentalists understanding “I have obligations”. Perhaps instead of thinking that we are “born with rights”, we should choose instead to think that we are “born with obligations”, thus requiring us to serve present and future generations, and while in doing so, serve the healthy needs of the planet on which we reside, each of us for a relatively short period.