Des res designs

Horizons:Architects, planners, artists and designers will gather to discuss the social, environmental, economic and aesthetic issues that permeate house design in Ireland at a conference in City Hall, Cork, on Thursday and Friday, May 24th and 25th.

With more than one-third of all houses in Ireland built since 1995, this innovative conference proposes a more creative future for the built environment.

Entitled des/IRE - designing houses for contemporary Ireland, the impressive line-up of speakers includes Wayne Hemingway, award-winning developer and creator of social housing projects in Britain; Mary P Corcoran, senior lecturer in the department of sociology, NUI Maynooth, Micheál Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Mick McDonagh, Cork city architect and architect for Ballymun Regeneration Ltd; and Frank McDonald, Environment Editor of The Irish Times. See www.nationalsculpturefactory.com/ desire for more details or phone Aileen Connor on tel: 087-2530042.

Don't suffer in silence

See Something, Say Something is the title of a new leaflet launched recently by the Environmental Enforcement Network, a division of the Environmental Protection Agency. The leaflet explains how members of the public can report environmental problems - such as poor water quality, inadequate sewage treatment, back-yard burning of household waste, fly-tipping of household waste and or emissions to air, water and land from industrial premises - to the relevant authority. Downloadable forms on which to make a complaint are available from www.epa.ie/ officeofenvironmentalenforcement/ lodgingacomplaint.

Sowing seeds at school

Environmental education and wildlife gardens in urban areas are the themes of an in-service training course for primary school teachers at the Ballymun Axis Centre from July 2nd-6th. The course is linked to strands in the primary curriculum and gives teachers hands-on tuition on how to start a school wildlife garden and inspire students on how to care about the environment.

The course, which is approved by the Department of Education, is run by Global Action Plan, an environmental education organisation that promotes sustainable living. Cost €150. Contact Aoife Flynn on tel: 01-8625846 for more details.

Hail our heritage

Universal Heritage is the theme of this year's International Museums Day. The different cultural backgrounds of modern Ireland will be celebrated next Friday at the National Museum of Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo. For more details, tel: 094-9031751.

Meanwhile, there will be free lunchtime tours of the Georgian House at 29 Fitzwilliam Street Lower, Dublin, between noon and 2pm from Tuesday to Friday next, also as part of International Museums Day celebrations.

EcoWeb

www.irishsquirrelsurvey.com

Participate in the 2007 Irish Squirrel Survey on this site. Based on a simple questionnaire, the survey aims to determine the present distribution of red and grey squirrels on the island of Ireland.