Environment « Thurles Information

Incompetence Personified By Tipperary Co. Council.

On May 22rd 2024, Tipperary Co. Council announced, through a notice posted here on their website, that the bridge junction, crossing the river Suir, joining Cathedral Street, Emmett St and Liberty Square, [known locally as ‘Barry’s Bridge’ situated on route N75 east out of Thurles, town centre] would close nightly from 7:00pm until 5:00am, for an estimated 8 day period, beginning Monday, June 17th, until Tuesday, June 25th last.

In an email received by Thurles.Info in 2023, from the now retired Tipperary Co. Councils Chief Executive, Mr Joe MacGrath, this resurfacing work had been scheduled for May of 2023, and was already now over one year late.

According to the notice then posted, traffic was initially required to travel along the Mill Road into Littleton village first; then to the Horse & Jockey, before returning to Thurles via the N62; latter a distance of 21.7k (some 13.5 extra miles), instead of using the Archerstown route and onto the N62, close to the rear of Thurles Golf Club.

On June 25th, 2024 Tipperary County Council announced here on their website that they would extend the closure time of this same N75 Thurles Bridge upgrade. Same was to close nightly again, from 19:00hrs (7:00pm) until 05:00hrs (5.00am), from Thursday night, June 27th, 2024 (10 days later) until Friday morning, July 05th 2024 (again 8 days), in order to facilitate this same resurfacing works.

Fact: This work was satisfactorily completed in one night, including the necessary painting of grid lines on the yellow box junction which facilitates Emmett Street.

So it appears that a Computer Administrator, paid by the taxpayer, had been instructed to upload misleading information on two different occasions onto the Tipperary Co. Council website.

But, this is not the worst offence committed.

Tipperary Co. Council Climate Action Plan 2024 – 2029. (See section 2.3 of latter link).
“Identify sites for large scale native and mixed woodland planting and set targets for planting and maintaining native trees in urban and rural areas, to enhance carbon storage; biodiversity and landscape; air quality, and urban heat island mitigation.“

Prior to this truly one night resurfacing upgrade, signs had been erected, supposedly to accurately direct traffic. Some signs, however were totally misleading to motorists and all these signs broke the rules of basic responsible administration.

**Sheet Metal Tech Screws used to attach diversion signs to trees**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

Res non Verba (Deeds, not Words),

Note: 3 easy drive, flange, self-drilling, stitching screws, with washers, were used to attach each sign. Same stitching screws are normally used to drill into 4mm metal sheets.

The diversion signs have now been removed, as have the Sheet Metal Tech Screws, but just in the last few days.

**Misleading diversion signs on Cathedral Street**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

Three of the signs using these Sheet Metal Tech Screws were attached to 3 living trees, (two on the N62 near Thurles Golf Club and a third near ‘The Source’, opposite Thurles Cathedral on Cathedral Street in the town centre.)

The other plastic signs were attached to zinc coated signposts, with same screws which, no doubt, with the coating now removed, will encourage rust.

The ‘Diverted Traffic’ direction sign on the Cathedral Street Roundabout, diverted traffic directly unto Thurles Bridge, where this imaginary 8 nights of work was due to commence. A short distance further on, near ‘The Source’, some 60 metres from the area to be resurfaced, the sign read ‘End Detour’.
Most resident motorists remain mystified as to these instructions then being offered.

The waste of taxpayers’ money and major incompetence continues.

Solitary Little Egret Returns To Feed In River Suir, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

‘Little Egret‘.
Extract from a poem by Johno Brett.
“Standing tall and proud at the water’s edge,
Plumage stark white against the salt marsh,
Jet black legs and yellow feet,
With a sharp stabbing beak,
Stands the Little Egret.”

**Little Egret** *(Egretta garzetta)* **Feeds In Thurles Town Centre.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby*

The little egret (Egretta garzetta) is a species of small heron, white in colour with a slender black beak, long black legs and yellow feet. Every day this week, usually between the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm, one such bird can be observed fishing in the shallow water of the river Suir, close to Barry’s Bridge, in the centre of Thurles Town.

Research shows that the little egret was once very common in Ireland, but became extinct through a combination of over-hunting in the late medieval period.
In England the inclusion of some 1,000 egrets in a banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465, indicates the presence of a sizeable population in northern England at that period in time.
They were also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429 and by the mid-16th century, they had become scarce and nearly extinct.

**Little Egret** **Clad In Black stockings & Yellow Shoes**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*

From the 17th century onwards the plumes of the little egret and its close relatives were in demand for the decorating of hats and became a major craze in Victorian times with the number of egret skins passing through dealers hands reaching into the millions annually, reducing the population of the species to almost extinction and stimulating the establishment of Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889.

Sometime in the 1950s, conservation laws were introduced in southern Europe to protect the species and since then their numbers began to increase. By the beginning of the 21st century the breed began expand westward, breeding again in the UK back in the 1960s before arriving in Ireland in more recent years.

Little egrets stalk their prey in shallow water, often observed shuffling their feet in an effort to disturb small fish, or may stand still and simply wait to ambush other available prey which include frogs, crustaceans, molluscs, insects, spiders and worms.

Here in Ireland, the species bred for the first time in 1997 at a site in Co. Cork and the population has expanded rapidly since, aided by climate change, and is now breeding in other Irish counties, since 2010, despite the severe cold winter weather experienced during the years 2010 – 2012.

Warning To Pedestrians, Cyclists & Motorists In Thurles.

Thurles.Info’s eye in the sky highlights two issues requiring immediate attention in the Cathedral town today.

Immediately opposite the front gates of Thurles Golf Club (N62, on left side entering the town) there exists what appears to be a large drain, the lid of which has since disintegrated.

**Possibly A Collapsed Drain Cover** *(N62 Thurles)*.

Due to the grass and its proximity to the verge, this large drain; the mouth of which measures approximately 31cm (12ins) X 76cm (30ins) is of extreme danger, in particular to pedestrians walking at night and also faster moving cyclists and motorists, latter who may decide to stop their vehicle on the outer margin or verge, which allows for parking.

Our second picture shows water cascading down Emmett Street, from opposite premises owned by Pat The Barber and The Recovery Hub, situated at the junction of Barry’s Bridge and Emmett Street.

**Water Leakage From Water Metres on Emmett Street, Thurles**.

The picture above shows water flowing from what appears to be water metres which were placed too close to the roadway and possibly damaged by the constant moving of heavy trucks required to offload in this area.

Warning – Significant Rise In Covid Cases Reported In Thurles.

Reports coming in from the public, confirm a worrying increase in Covid cases here in Thurles since Tuesday last.

Fresh Covid-19 wave had been forecast to hit Ireland this summer.

Nationally, 22 Covid-19 cases are confirmed as being in hospital intensive care units, by the HSE, (Figure recorded at 11:30am today, Thursday July 11th, 2024). Confirmed Cases in our hospitals are recorded at 361 Covid-19 cases, (Recorded at 8:00am today Thursday, July 11th, 2024).

At the end of June last (2024), Ireland’s health officials sounded a serious warning after reporting a sharp increase in confirmed Covid cases and hospitalisations. Experts warned that Covid transmission, while presently at moderate to high levels within Ireland; due an increase in travel and attendances at other large social events such as musical festivals, (both which results in crowded settings) the virus is permitted to spread more easily.

The specialist service for the surveillance of communicable diseases have advised anyone with possible symptoms of Covid, (even mild ones), to stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms are mostly or fully gone. Symptom – sufferers should also avoid contact with other people, especially people at higher risk from COVID-19.

Note: The majority of retail outlets in Thurles no longer provide hand sanitizer for their customers.

Ireland’s 2023 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Lowest In Three Decades.

Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 6.8% (4.0 Mt CO2eq) in 2023, with reductions in almost all sectors. This is the lowest that greenhouse gas emissions have been in three decades, and below the 1990 baseline.
Emissions data show the largest single year reductions in the energy and agriculture sectors and the lowest level of residential emissions since 1990, while transport emissions were below pre-Covid levels.
Power generation emissions decreased by 21.6 per cent (2.2 Mt CO2eq)
Agriculture emissions decreased by 4.6 per cent (1.0 Mt CO2eq)
Residential emissions decreased by 7.1 per cent (0.4 Mt CO2eq)
Transport emissions increased marginally by 0.3 per cent (0.03 Mt CO2eq)
Emissions per capita decreased from 11.4 tonnes CO2eq/person to 10.4 tonnes CO2eq/person in 2023.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published its provisional greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland for 2023. The figures show a reduction of 6.8% compared to 2022, with emission reductions in almost all sectors. In total, 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2eq) were emitted, excluding emissions from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).

Commenting on the report Ms Laura Burke, Director General, EPA said: “Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 were at their lowest level in over three decades, as a result of the largest reduction in emissions outside of recession. These are significant findings that signal the impact of climate action and decarbonisation measures across Ireland’s economy and society. We see the impact of more renewables and interconnection powering electricity, less fossil fuel use in home heating, reduced nitrogen fertiliser use in agriculture and more biofuel in transport.”

Ms Burke added, “The data indicates a move towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the scale and pace required to meet our climate ambition of a 51% reduction by 2030. However, while these are positive results for the year 2023, we are still well off track in terms of meeting EU and national 2030 targets. We need to maintain and further build momentum.”

The assessment shows that Ireland complied with its EU Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) commitments for 2021-2023, with the use of allowed flexibilities. However, these latest data show that 2023 greenhouse gas emissions were still only 10.1% below 2005 levels, well short of Ireland’s EU Effort Sharing reduction commitment of 42% by 2030.

With regard to compliance with national commitments under the Climate Act 2015 (as amended), the assessment shows that greenhouse Gas emissions (incl. LULUCF) are 7.8% lower than in 2018, well off the National Climate Ambition of a 51% reduction by 2030. We need to achieve an extremely challenging annual reduction of 8.3% for each of the years 2024 and 2025, if Ireland is to stay within the first Carbon Budget.

A summary of the trends from key sectors:

Energy Industries: Emissions decreased by 21.6% to 7.8 Mt CO2eq. This was driven by a 12-fold increase in imported electricity (9.5% of electricity supply in 2023), in combination with an increase in the share of renewable energy (to 40.7% in 2023) and a reduction in the use of coal, oil and peat. The emissions intensity of power generation decreased from 332g CO2/kWh in 2022 to a historic low of 255g CO2/kWh in 2023.

Agriculture: Agriculture emissions decreased by 4.6% to 20.8 Mt CO2eq due to an 18% reduction in fertiliser nitrogen use, reduced lime application and overall reduction in numbers of livestock. Dairy cow numbers increased by 0.6%, however total milk production decreased by 4.7% in 2023.

Residential: Emissions decreased by 7% to 5.3 Mt CO2eq. This was the second substantial annual reduction in succession. High fuel prices and a milder winter were significant contributors to the reduction in fossil fuel use, in addition to the introduction of nationwide solid fuel regulations. Over 30,000 heat-pumps were installed in Irish homes in 2023, bringing the total to 120,000.

Transport: Emissions increased marginally by 0.3% to 11.8 Mt CO2eq. Emissions are now 4.3% below 2019 pre-Covid levels. An increase in electric vehicles and biofuel use partly offset a 3% increase in the vehicle fleet.

Commenting, Ms Mary Frances Rochford, Programme Manager, EPA said: “There are many positives to be taken from this assessment. We see emission reduction milestones achieved in many key sectors in 2023. Residential emissions were at their lowest level since 1990, we saw the largest year on year reductions to date in the Energy and Agriculture sectors. All of which have contributed to a decrease in our emissions per capita from 11.4 to 10.4 tonnes CO2eq in 2023.”

In line with new research in the latest update to the inventory, the EPA refined the information underpinning the agricultural figures which has led to an 8.5 Mt CO2eq reduction in emissions from agricultural activities from 2018-2023. It is imperative that this is now incorporated into carbon budgets to ensure that they reflect latest science, data and knowledge on greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland.

The Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory 1990 to 2023 is available on the EPA website and the EPA Greenhouse Gas web resource is also available online.