No water reserves in Dublin – report
WATER SUPPLY in the greater Dublin area is on a knife-edge, with demand likely to outstrip available reserves within a few years, according to a report prepared by consultants for seven local authorities. The capital has no strategic reserves of water when it should have 10-20 per cent reserves at a minimum, while existing sources...
Gormley rejects Poolbeg claims
Minister for the Environment John Gormley has rejected as “scaremongering” and “absolute nonsense” claims that the State will face massive EU fines for landfill waste if the controversial Poolbeg incinerator does not go ahead. The Minister also said he would this week receive the report of the “authorised officer” he appointed in March to examine...
Gormley to announce major changes to planning legislation
MAJOR NEW planning legislation to be published today will dramatically clamp down on retentions for large developments and on the rampant expansion of quarries. The Planning Bill 2010 will be published by Minister for the Environment John Gormley and is partly designed to target problems that persistently cropped up during the property boom which existing...
Offshore wind energy firms hopeful of major EU support
OFFSHORE WIND energy producers are hoping major support for the industry will be signalled by EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs, when he addresses their annual conference in Dublin today. Currently in excess of 2,500 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy are in planning, alongside about another 8,000MW of onshore wind energy, representing potential investment...
The Bord are to reopen oral hearing into Dublin Port land infill
AN BORD PLEANÁLA is to reopen a planning hearing into Dublin port proposals to infill 52 acres of Dublin bay. The hearing was suspended last month after it emerged the board’s advisers HR Wallingford, had undertaken work on plans for Bremore port which is a potential rival for Dublin’s port’s expansion plans. In a letter...
€300bn for offshore windfarms – Are windfarms a good idea?
Lets hope the ESB will speed up the connection of wind farms in the future. This industry appears to have great potential for employment in the future and who knows if we get it right we could make a good deal of money from selling the extra electricity we dont use. I would also like...
A time for building bridges
Only noticed this in saturdays irish times today. This article was accompanied with images of the Viaduc de Millau, which I had the pleasure of crossing the year it opened to the public. A truly intriguing experience driving above the clouds in the early morning! You won’t experience anything like it! HERITAGE & HABITAT: NOW THAT “development” is...
Ballymun Shopping Centre plan gets approval
A bit of good news this morning. The RPA have with drawn there objections to the Ballymun Shopping Centre development. Finally the last piece of the regeneration of the main street of ballymun will get constructed! Real Estate Opportunities (REO) said today it had secured full planning permission for the €800 million regeneration of Ballymun...
Eirgrid gets permit for link
This look’s pretty sweet, for the electricity network. Hopefully it will be fully utilized for exporting all the wind energy that we have already built and in the pipeline. Who know’s maybe one day we could become a wind energy giant with the west coast as just one big massive wind farm! NATIONAL ELECTRICITY network operator...
