Environment - Thurles Information

Thurles New Street Sweeper Machine Needs Better Brushes.

Early this morning two road sweepers made an appearence on Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

The big road sweeper machine passed up and down the street at least 3 times, same gathering up the gravel it failed to suck up on Friday last.

**New street sweeper machine continues to be operated, while unable to suck up filth and dirt.** **The waste of taxpayer’s money, by Tipp. Co. Co. continues without any reduction in intensity or strength.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby 29th January 2024.*

The small road sweeper machine with the worn out left hand brush was taxed with sweeping the footpaths; in an attempt to remove the gravel flung at the fronts of homes of street residents and unsuspecting pedestrians, by the daily heavy traffic.

You will note that this editor didn’t use the word ‘cleaned’ in any of the above text, since this small machine only collected and left a ridge of dirt and filth behind it; same neatly piled in the centre of the footpaths. (See image shown above).

Something we have learned over the years here in Co. Tipperary is that politicians, councillors and their officials are chosen mainly by their ability to provide spin. Such silence is also displayed by our local newspapers and some local radio broadcasters; latter who are supposed to generate a certain power and remain important to our democracy, but no longer can be perceived as promoters of community responsibility.

In the interests of openness and transparency, Tipperary Co. Council senior officials have been notified.

Launch Of New Deposit Return Scheme Set For February 1st, 2024.

All 4 major Supermarkets at least, here in Thurles, have been busy preparing for the launch of the new Deposit Return Scheme, same expected to commence with effect from Thursday February 1st next, 2024.

This new scheme will see consumers pay a small deposit on drinks contained in plastic bottles and cans. However, this added purchase cost will be given back, when consumers return their drink containers to these participating supermarkets.

Drinks containers with an individual Re-Turn Logo are expected to start appearing in shops from February 1st; however, only cans and plastic bottles featuring that logo will be accepted into these now ready to roll reverse vending machines.

With this long awaited new venture about to be launched, it is hoped that the scheme will help Ireland to reach its recycling goals; part of the current EU single-use plastics directive.

Major Decline In Tipperary River Water Quality.

A Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) representative has informed Nenagh Municipal District councillors, last week, of a major decline in the water quality of Tipperary’s rivers and streams.

Ms Catherine Seale-Duggan the newly appointed Community Water Officer with LAWPRO has warned that the quality of watercourses in Co. Tipperary has dropped substantially and worryingly over the past 10 years.

**State of River Suir just 100 meters from Barry’s bridge in Thurles Town centre.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby, 2019.*

Ms Seale-Duggan confirmed that only 1/3 of rivers in Tipperary were in the category of “Good and High Status”, whereas ten years previously almost 2/3 of the counties rivers fell into that same stated category. She stated that the Nenagh River (Irish: An Ghaothach) which rises in the Silvermine Mountains in Co.Tipperary, and flows east of Nenagh into Lough Derg, north of Dromineer village, falls into the “Moderate Status” category.

**River Suir at Barry’s Bridge, Thurles town centre**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby, 2021.*

“What we are aiming for in the case of every river and stream,is the Good and High Status”, Ms Seale-Duggan stated, “We are targeting those areas where the water quality is adversely impacted, and agriculture is part of that concern and focus. Inspectors will visit farms and look at opportunities to stop pollutants getting into rivers and streams”.

This work will now be heavily subsidised through a €60 million project and advisers from Dairy Co-ops will be engaging directly with farmers. Alas, the farming community will continue in the mindset of “I have rights” and no indigenous mindset showing that “I have obligations” in serving present and future generations, not to mention the health of the very planet itself.
Water European Innovation Partnership (EIP) is also working to reduce the loss of nutrients in farms and to prevent nutrients from these same areas, gaining access to watercourses and polluting them.
According to ICBF data, accurate up to June 1, 2023 the county with the second-largest dairy herd is Co. Tipperary with 194,018 cows, which is an increase of 59,259 head, since 2013. (Largest is Co. Cork).
There is a difference of 69,544 head of cattle, between Co. Tipperary and Co Kilkenny, latter in third place on ICBP’s list.

Thurles.Info has continuously, over the past eleven years, raised this same issue (first on November 7th, 2013, in relation to the River Suir).

We hope that Ms Catherine Seale-Duggan, the newly appointed Community Water Officer with LAWPRO, has better success with Municipal District officials than we had.

Evidence Is Clear: Climate Change Is Happening.

The evidence is clear: Climate change is happening. Immediate and sustained actions are likely to have widespread benefits.

Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment is the first comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the state of knowledge of climate change in Ireland.
We are living in and experiencing a changing climate. In line with global trends, 16 of the 20 warmest years in Ireland have occurred since 1990.
More action is needed to meet Ireland’s legally binding emissions targets including large-scale and immediate emissions reductions across the energy system, which is currently heavily dependent (86%) on fossil fuels.
Ireland needs to be resilient to ongoing and future climate change impacts. Implementation of climate adaptation measures is currently too slow and fragmented.
Immediate and sustained transformative mitigation and adaptation actions are likely to yield substantial benefits for health, wellbeing and biodiversity in Ireland, while reducing vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published Ireland’s first Climate Change Assessment Report (ICCA). This major scientific assessment serves to complement and localise the global assessments undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its findings build upon these assessments and add important local and national context.

Undertaken by leading researchers, this assessment is based on scientific research and observations in Ireland, linked to EU and global analyses. It was led by the Environmental Protection Agency, funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, with additional funding by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, and the Department of Transport.

Welcoming the report Ms Laura Burke, (EPA Director General), said: “Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment represents a major contribution to our understanding of the impacts and challenges experienced and posed by climate change in Ireland. The Assessment provides a picture of where Ireland is, in its response the climate emergency. It provides insights as to the scale of the challenge for Ireland to become climate neutral and climate resilient. It reinforces the need for Ireland to pick up the pace of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to our changed and future climate”.

Ms Burke further added: “If we can reach net zero global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, then many of the key components of the climate system, such as temperature and precipitation, would stabilise within the lifetime of many of today’s younger citizens and to the benefit of all of society”.

Key findings:

Human activity has resulted in widespread and rapid changes in climate which are already impacting us all today.
The future climate is in our collective hands. Halting warming globally and in Ireland, requires rapidly reaching at least net-zero carbon dioxide emissions and substantially cutting other greenhouse gas emissions. Every action matters: with every additional increment of warming, impacts for Ireland will increase substantially.
Having peaked in 2001, Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions have reduced in all sectors except agriculture. However, Ireland currently emits more greenhouse gases per person than the EU average. A legal basis for deep, rapid and sustained national emissions cuts now exists, although current policy and action remain insufficient to meet these aims. The pathway forward is clearer for energy, transport and the built environment than for agriculture and land use. For all sectors there are many challenges to overcome.
Ireland needs to be resilient to ongoing and future climate change impacts. This requires increased focus upon and investment in adaptation that can protect us from future climatic impacts. Current implementation of adaptation is too slow and fragmented. Doing better requires financing, working with people and nature, monitoring and evaluating outcomes, and increasing public and private sector involvement.
Effective and just transformative actions will have mitigation and adaptation benefits and bring broader benefits for health, wellbeing, nature and sustainable economic development. The state has a central role to play in enabling the necessary transformations, supported through action across society. Decisions taken this decade will reverberate for generations to come.

Commenting on the assessment, Ms Mary Frances Rochford, (Programme Manager) said: “Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment is a major resource for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, research funders and the public. It points to how and where the science can be improved through further investments in innovation, in research and in systematic observations. The EPA, with partners, will continue to focus on addressing these knowledge gaps to inform and support effective climate action”.

Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment Report is available on the EPA website, VIEW HERE.

For What Are Thurles, Co. Tipperary Residents Paying Property Tax?

Yesterday, January 22nd 2024, the road sweeper unit made several passes up and down on Kickham Street, east of Thurles Town centre, Co. Tipperary.
Their purpose for the crew’s occupancy, was not to collect litter or debris relating to ‘Storm Isha’, but rather to suck up loose gravel, generated by the cold tarmacadam that had been brought into play, to fill giant craters just 14 days before.

**Street sweeper unit gathering gravel on Kickham St. Thurles.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby. Mid-morning January 22nd 2024.*

Thankfully, the cold spell experienced over the past two weeks had held this tarmac together, now that the rainy season has arrived, as we have experienced since Saturday last; unprecedented heavy traffic and heavy rain has, as expected, loosened the cold tarmacadam, resulting in the road surface becoming one long gravel driveway. (See image hereunder).

**Gravel on Kickham Street, Thurles, before the Road Sweeper Unit arrived; brought to my attention by stones striking the toughened glass on my front window**, **latter broken by flying surface gravel, sometime previously.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby. Early Morning of January 22nd 2024.*

Yesterday’s road sweeping exercise resulted in a two man operation. One driving the sweeper unit, while another employee attempted to keep pace, slightly to the fore, using a leaf blower to drive loose gravel from pavements; slung their by the wheels of vehicles and aimed at unsuspecting pedestrians.

Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive Tipperary Co. Council), was busy yesterday, rubbing shoulders and having his picture taken with Fianna Fáil’s Minister Mr Darragh O’Brien and Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD Mr Jackie Cahill (Thurles); all 3 individuals attempting to boost both their images and personal expenses, while officially opening a children’s playground in Newport, Co. Tipperary, which by the way, cost almost €3 million to deliver.
They were then later joined in their promotional picture by Mr Michael Lowry TD. (Thurles), who climbed in on the act, at Woodview Close, Nenagh, where Mr Darragh O’Brien officially cut the ‘Munster GAA blue ribbon’, suitably chosen, to open 10 social homes.

Meanwhile, back on Kickham Street, in forgotten Thurles, Co. Tipperary, within 4 hours after the sweeper had sucked up much of the loose gravel and departed, the last remnants of the streets cold tarmacked surface broke loose, leaving behind massive crates. (See image hereunder).

**Kickham Street, Thurles yesterday afternoon, after the road sweeper unit had returned to base.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby. Afternoon of January 22nd 2024.*

We ask the question again and again, “For what are Thurles residents paying property tax ?”
We get absolutely nothing in return, except silence or arrogance from officialdom, same disposed to exaggerate their own worth or self importance; often dished out in an overbearing manner”.

Time has now come to name the Tipperary Municipal District officials responsible.

Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles District Administrator), together with Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive of Tipperary Co. Council) and Mr Marcus O’ Connor, (latter Director of Services Roads and Transportation, Active Travel, Health and Safety) have all been notified.
[We have been made aware that Mr Joe MacGrath will be away from his office until Friday next, January 26th, with limited access to his emails. To this end a communication has been forwarded to his secretary Ms Evelyn Harty, since this matter now requires urgent attention.]