Slash & burn - Mark 2 ! Biodiversity /heritage back in the firing line ?

Woodville56

Not wanting to get political on this but as a minority government appears imminent, I've a sense of foreboding that our biodiversity is about to be sold out again. Horse dealing with independents over turf cutting and who knows what other anti biodiversity measures on the agenda of independents ?? Can't help but feel we'll be fighting the slash & burn campaign all over again.soon?

magicbastarder

i would dearly like another election. not that i expect much change.

Woodville56

So anyone know yet who's looking after heritage/ environment in the new outfit ? Please let it not be HH part 2 ??

baaba maal

Fine Gael appears to have simultaneously abolished the environment while placing a corporate fanboy in charge of it.

recedite

Finance Minister Michael Noonan will now work with Michael Fitzmaurice to hammer out an agreement on turf-cutting and bogs.
Both sides are confident that Mr Fitzmaurice will be able to join his Independent Alliance members in minority government when a solution is agreed on this in the coming weeks.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/leo-varadkar-shafted-by-enda-kenny-as-chaos-marks-government-formation-398118.html
Its a pity the Greens didn't get a representative in there instead.

Jayzesake

Woodville56 wrote: »

So anyone know yet who's looking after heritage/ environment in the new outfit ? Please let it not be HH part 2 ??

The word 'Environment' gone from any ministerial portfolio... Humphries back in... turfcutting lobby in position of power... we are going backwards as a nation. And, to boot, this weekend my neighbour has a 22 ton machine grubbing up all the substantial native woodland on his farm, largely because these areas were excluded from farm payments as 'scrub'. Aldo Leopold's 'world of wounds' comes to mind.

Capercaillie

recedite wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/leo-varadkar-shafted-by-enda-kenny-as-chaos-marks-government-formation-398118.html
Its a pity the Greens didn't get a representative in there instead.

Fitzmaurice said he wants a solution that will protect the bogs! Which translates as cut the raised bogs till nothing left.

Woodville56

Poor outlook for biodiversity if Humphreys, Fitzmaurice and their likes now calling the shots ! Can Europe intervene ( or be asked to) if our newly elected government is continually prepared to sell out on our biodiversity , as the previous administration was ? Seems like the only protections of habitats etc comes from Europe now? Pity the Greens didn't engage in government, at least there would be some dissenting voices ?

recedite

An article on Fitzmaurice here.
I'd imagine the EU will wait until the dust settles, and then see what policies are actually implemented.

It looks like the above might be a violation of the habitats directive, and also IMO the "suspension" of the water meters might also be deemed a violation of the water directive.

I wouldn't be surprised if these regressive policies were brought in for a while, then we subsequently get slapped with some big EU fines, by which time the govt. will probably have collapsed anyway, and then eventually we go back to where we were in 2015.

Woodville56

It's a sad day ( but now imperative it seems) that we have to rely on EU directives to protect our biodiversity and nature from our own legislators !

Capercaillie

Woodville56 wrote: »

It's a sad day ( but now imperative it seems) that we have to rely on EU directives to protect our biodiversity and nature from our own legislators !

Conservation policy in this Country is to do the bare minimum so as to escape fines from EU.

As regards Turf cutting on"protected" SAC's, as long as Gardaí are monitoring it and "gathering" evidence the turfcutting can continue.

Jayzesake

Even the widespread flooding last winter, for the second time in just 6 years, made no impact on thinking. People, and the representatives we elect, seem to be unable to grasp the fundamental fact that we, like every other species, are totally dependent on the natural environment at every level. It was so depressing to see people actually blaming environmentalists for the flooding (!), because we are rightly generally opposed to dredging as a solution.

It's not much of a consolation, but Ireland is actually pretty typical in terms of how countries around the globe are currently relating to the natural environment.

Woodville56

baaba maal wrote: »

Fine Gael appears to have simultaneously abolished the environment while placing a corporate fanboy in charge of it.

Not even a Junior Minister (with responsibility for environmental / biodiversity issues ) among the goodies handed out today by Enda Kenny ! FG doing their best to ignore the very existence of environmental issues, maybe hoping we will all just go away ?

Del.Monte

I haven't been following things very closely but did HeatherHumphreys get replaced at Heritage and, if so, by whom?

According to this http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/election-2016/70-days-later-your-new-government-ministers-revealed-34691936.html we have no Heritage Dept. any more!