Environmental News | The Irish Times

Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton announcing details of the climate action plan at TU Dublin, Grangegorman, on Monday. Photograph: Dara MacDónaill

Climate action plan: how difficult will it be to deliver on the five key targets?

The many aims for individual sectors remain highly aspirational with little detail

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan: he said transport elements were “woeful, lacking ambition in seeking real efficiency and long-term decarbonisation”

Bruton rejects claims that transport measures in climate plan are ‘woeful’

People Before Profit TD says the Government is continuing to issue exploration licences, build runways and construct a gas terminal

The team used playbacks of robin song to stimulate responses from birds who were territory holders. Photograph: Getty Images

Man-made noise stopping birds from communicating

Birdsong being drowned out, research from Queen’s University finds

Officials said it was clear the problem of stray or unwanted horses has not gone away. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Local authorities ‘not equipped’ for rising horse welfare issues

Officials tell Oireachtas that seizing horses is a time consuming and high-risk activity

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD along with other Government Ministers, announcing details of Climate Action Plan 2019 on Monday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish Times

Ireland to support EU carbon-neutral objective for 2050

As of Tuesday, Ireland is among 19 countries now backing the long-term target

Sled dogs wading through standing water on the sea ice during an expedition in Northwestern Greenland, in this June 13th photograph taken by Steffen Olsen of the Centre for Ocean and Ice at the Danish Meteoroligical Institute. Photograph: Steffen Olsen/AFP/Getty Images

Photograph offers window on melting Greenland sea ice

Unusually warm weather brings rapid melt, but too soon to assess role of global warming

A significant problem could lie with servicing the gas and oil boilers that remain in use after they are banned in new builds. Photograph: iStock

Shift to domestic heat pumps from 2025 a ‘knee jerk reaction’

Boiler installer believes focusing on renewable energy would be more efficient

Moneypoint generating station. The plan confirms that the coal-fuelled power station is due to close by 2025. Photograph: Neil Warner for ESB

Government will ‘nudge people and businesses to change behaviour’

Bruton says ‘the most vulnerable must not be left behind during the transition to sustainability’

Political insiders wonder if the electorate’s concern for climate change extends to changing their own habits or accepting new costs.

Climate change commitments require nitty-gritty of policy action

Optimism is all very well but a green plan which penalises nobody will achieve nothing

Fossil-fuel emissions. Renewable Energy Ireland has describing the plan as “a road map for turning Ireland into a climate-change leader”. Photograph: Getty Images

Friends of the Earth: Climate breakdown plan is 'biggest innovation' in 20 years

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland says fundamental to the success of the plan is the level of commitment of all parts of society

‘This plan represents the sum of our hopes for the future,’ said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar launching the Government’s climate action plan at TU Dublin Grangegorman, Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney Collins

Climate plan will ‘nudge people’ to change behaviour, says Varadkar

Taoiseach says Government’s strategy to tackle climate threat is ‘both effective and sensible’

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar: ‘It’s good economic policy. it’s good social policy. It’s good environmental policy, and we just need to make it happen.’ Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Dramatic lifestyle changes coming as Ireland cuts the carbon

The carrot approach will apply initially but the stick will appear if progress is too slow

The manager of Fast EcoBuild, Kieran Carew, says those who retrofit their homes to an A standard should be property tax exempt for a set period of time – those who don’t should pay more

‘We grew up with fossil fuels so let’s have the next generation grow up with heat pumps’

A typical deep retrofit on a three-bed semi-detached house will cost €70,000 to €80,000 – a grant will cover half of that cost

The man who located the sparrowhawk’s nest in the Leitrim forest said he had been a bird watcher for 50 years. File photograph: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

Discovery of sparrowhawk’s nest leads to suspension of licence for tree felling

Department of Agriculture suspended licence for felling at Leitrim forest

School pupils during a global protest for action to tackle climate change, outside the Dáil in Dublin in March. File photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Climate action: What are the new Government measures?

Plan on climate change contains almost 200 actions to ensure Ireland meets targets

Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton. His plan takes on board the recommendations of the all-party committee on climate action in its report earlier this year. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Government will try to meet tough climate targets by 2030

Move is an attempt to prompt major behaviour shift in fossil-fuel consumption in economy

The NBDC report confirms short-term, accelerating declines in Irish bee populations

Ireland’s bee and butterfly populations declining, report finds

Biodiversity study says status of Irish wildlife ‘remains precarious’

A pigeon egg in a nest

Last week a feral pigeon came in, laid an egg and destroyed the place

Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries for Ethna Viney

Over 1,400 properties stand to lose part of their front gardens to accommodate the proposed plans while between 1,500 and 1,600 trees would be lost. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times

Number of trees impacted by BusConnects can be reduced, NTA believes

Affected property owners expected to receive average compensation payment of €25,000

The tourist season in Kerry is at its peak from June to the middle of August. Photograph: iStock

Section of Ring of Kerry to close due to subsidence

Busy stretch near Killarney Lakes off-limits for two weeks, at height of tourist season

The Lion’s Mane can grow to more than 2m wide with tentacles that can reach up to 60m in length. File photograph:Tom Doyle

Bathers in Sandycove, Dublin warned after Lion’s Mane jellyfish sighting

The jellyfish can deliver venomous sting and cause medical complications, says council

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