Education « Thurles Information

Update On Allied Irish Bank’s Sponsorship Of One Hundred Million Trees Project.

Readers will be aware of previous discussions regarding the “One Hundred Million Trees Project”, sponsored by Allied Irish Bank (AIB), situated on Liberty Square, in Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Hereunder, please view a video, taken on the day of the planting, featuring so many of our local secondary school pupils.

This ambitious initiative, which deployed a novel planting technique perfected in Japan, known as The Miyawaki Method, is well on course to plant 550,000 trees across Ireland at hundreds of sites, by May of this year.
The project’s ambitious aim is to densely plant between 1,000 and 2,500 native Irish trees at a time across small areas of land using this ‘the Miyawaki method’, named after Japanese Botanist, Professor Akira Miyawaki.
This method of overplanting trees has been successful in creating over 1,700 forests worldwide, including three established forests here in Ireland.
By planting excess trees together, they grow considerably faster, denser, are more biodiverse, and most importantly create a very rapid carbon sink. This inexpensive approach requires significantly smaller planting areas and can be conducted on unused or fallow land across Ireland.
Dense areas of afforestation can also actually play a role in reducing the impact of forest fires, while at the same time provide excellent areas of biodiversity.
Thurles.Info will be returning to this area within the next few weeks to observe at first hand the progress made, following the planting of these trees.

FSAI Recall Batch Of Dairy Farm Vanilla Ice Cream.

FSAI recall a batch of Dairy Farm Vanilla Ice Cream due to chemical smell and taste from the product.

Alert Summary dated Friday, April 4th 2025.

Category 1: For Action
Alert Notification: 2025.17
Product Identification: Dairy Farm Vanilla Ice Cream tub; pack size: 1 litre; approval number: IE 1065 EC
Batch Code: L24356B; best before date: June 2026
Country Of Origin: Ireland

Message: The above batch of Dairy Farm Vanilla Ice Cream is being recalled due to some customers experiencing a chemical smell and/or taste from the product.
Point-of-sale recall notices will be displayed in Lidl stores.

Action Required:
Consumers: Consumers are advised not to eat the implicated batch.

Note: At the best of times, according to the independent YUKA App. the above product, when scanned by Thurles.Info, contains Mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids, latter a high risk texturizing agent which provides consistency, maintains or modifies the texture of this product.
This additive we are informed, could in cases of high consumption, increase the risk of developing cancers and cardiovascular diseases. It is also suspected of disrupting gut flora , which could lead to an increased risk of autoimmune and allergic diseases, as well as inflammatory diseases.

This product also contains Locust bean gum; Guar gum and E415. These additives/texturizing agents used as emulsifiers are believed to also alter gut microbiota. A recent Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) study, [latter the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research], found that such emulsifiers may be associated with the development of breast cancer. However, it is also accepted that further studies are required with regards to this latter claim.

Now comes the questions:
(1) With this research knowledge readily available; why are Irish manufacturers allowed to use these additives/texturizing agents in such products?
(2) Why are Shops/Supermarkets continuing to sell such products?
(3) Could the removal of such additives/texturizing agents from our food, reduce hospital overcrowding and patient waiting time for beds?

We have forwarded these three questions to the Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, Mr Martin Heydon TD. (martin.heydon@oir.ie) and to the Minister for Health, Ms Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD (jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie); seeking early replies.

EPA Announces Funding Of €6.6million For Targeted New Research Projects.

EPA announces funding of €6.6million for targeted new research projects to address environmental, climate and sustainability challenges.

The EPA today announces funding of €6.6million for new research that will address environmental, climate and sustainability challenges in Ireland.
Funding will support targeted research projects that address specific needs from across the policy community, with a focus on shorter projects to provide timely outputs.
Proposals are invited under 29 individual topics, including how we can enhance the reuse of water in Ireland, assessing methane emissions and exploring the impact of global megatrends on achieving environmental objectives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced research funding of up to €6.6 million for new environmental research. The EPA is inviting proposals from the research community for innovative projects under 29 topics that will contribute to the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland.

Announcing the EPA funding call, Dr Eimear Cotter, (Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment) said: “The EPA’s continued investment in research underscores its critical role in addressing knowledge gaps and supporting effective policy responses to the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation. In 2024, we were delighted to see an 80 per cent increase in applications to the EPA research call, highlighting the significant opportunity that researchers see for their work to contribute to environmental and climate policy development, and we hope to see a similarly strong response to our 2025 call.”

Research topics to be funded include:
assessing the performance of policies on achieving our climate targets;
examining how Ireland’s infrastructure can be resilient to population growth and climate change in the future;
exploring the impact of global megatrends such as artificial intelligence on environmental objectives;
how we can enhance the reuse of water in Ireland, and
analysing methane emissions from natural sources and human activities in Ireland.

Dr Darragh O’Neill, (EPA Research Manager”), stated, “The EPA is inviting proposals across 29 topics to address specific knowledge gaps. To strengthen the connection between research and policy, the EPA will support the successful research teams in working closely with the policy community to deliver impactful research outcomes. We particularly encourage early career researchers to apply and to consider the relevance of their research to the environment, climate and sustainability.”

The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Applications are accepted from across the island of Ireland, including from higher education institutions, research performing organisations, private companies and non-governmental organisations. Under this year’s call, the EPA is delighted to be partnering with Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to co-fund projects in areas of mutual interest.

Further details about the 2025 EPA Research Call and how to apply for funding is available on the EPA Website.

Moon To Pass Between Earth & Sun Tomorrow Morning.

A partial eclipse of the sun will see skies darken over Ireland tomorrow morning, Saturday March 28th, allowing us to experience the deepest eclipse experienced in the past ten years.

This phenomenon occurs when the Moon partially passes between the Sun and the Earth. Since the three planets will not be completely aligned, only part of the Sun will be obscured from our world.

The Aztecs, a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period believed eclipses happened when the jaguar god Tepeyollotl swallowed the Sun, while the Cherokee, latter an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, made as much noise as possible during an eclipse, to scare away the giant frog, they believed, was trying to consume it.

This happening, however, will see sunlight less powerful around mid-morning on Saturday, as the begins to cut a slice from the sun from 9:30am onwards until it reaches its peak at around 11:00am to noon.

The impact of this partial eclipse will be noticeable, particularly by people working outdoors. With bright, sunny spells expected in the east of the country tomorrow morning, the sky will otherwise remain cloudy with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle expected.

Mary Immaculate College, Thurles, Launches New Business & Accounting Department.

Former St Patrick’s College, now Mary Immaculate College, Thurles.

A new business and accounting department, at the Thurles Mary Immaculate College (MIC), (formerly St. Patrick’s College) was formally launched by the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Mr Peter Burke TD, on Tuesday last, March 25th.

The Minister, in his address to more than 100 guests at the event, commented that with 5,000 students and close to 2,000 graduates per year, MIC was making a significant contribution to the region in terms of higher education, industry and research partnerships; thus creating a boost to the economy and to the local community.

Dr Rebecca Purcell [BBS (UL), PGDip in Management and Leadership in Education (TCD), MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (SETU), PhD in Business Management (UL)], emphasised that the new department “has a bold, ambitious vision, one that will shape the future of business and accounting education in Ireland. It is a statement of intent about what we value and what we strive for. And most importantly, it creates a dedicated space for students, faculty and industry partners and collaborators to drive innovation, research and teaching excellence.
It is about shaping future leaders, educators and innovators who will build and support our domestic economy in the face of increasing uncertainty and increasing protectionism in global economic policy, but who will equally contribute in a meaningful way to our society.“

“Something that sets us apart here at MIC is we are not just educating future business professionals. We are also educating the future business and accounting teachers of Ireland. This dual role is something we embrace with great pride,” Ms Purcell added.

Limerick native Professor Dermot Nestor (11th President of Mary Immaculate College) charted the history of the former St Patrick’s College, (today MIC St Patrick’s Campus, Thurles), which in its earliest guise aimed “to provide a course of liberal education and whatever is necessary…including the usual branches of a classical, mathematical and mercantile education” so “business then has been at the core of this institution since it first opened its door”.
Professor Nestor further statrd that success should be “measured in terms of meaning and value – and a determination that those qualities must always be for someone, or something.”

“This is a department that is about people and where people are considered the most valuable resource. the real wealth, the true capital, is the people who work here and those individuals, organisations, and industries across the community that they will collaborate with and support.
This is a future focus that ensures graduates are not simply responsive to changes in our society, but are the drivers of that change. I have every confidence that the ambition, the commitment, and the effort of this department will speak for itself.”

Ms Kim Mackenzie-Doyle, (CEO and founder of The B!G Idea), latter a pioneering non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering young people to tackle local and global challenges, was the keynote speaker at the event.

Some 500 students are studying to be post-primary business or accounting teachers on five of the concurrent BA in Education programmes at MIC Thurles.

This new department is the newest in MIC’s faculty of arts and business and was recently introduced as the 14th core subject, offered on the long-established Bachelor of Arts programme at MIC Limerick, where it has quickly become a popular choice among students.