Upcoming Events

Cork | Environment

no events match your query!

New Events

Cork

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy

offsite link Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy

offsite link It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy

offsite link Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left

offsite link Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum Fri Jul 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Labour has appointed Becky Francis, an intersectional feminist, to rewrite the national curriculum, which it will then force all schools to teach. Prepare for even more woke claptrap to be shoehorned into the classroom.
The post The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech Fri Jul 26, 2024 13:03 | Toby Young
The Government has just announced it intends to block the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, effectively declaring war on free speech. It's time to join the Free Speech Union and fight back.
The post Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Ei... Fri Jul 26, 2024 11:00 | Tilak Doshi
On July 18th, Dr Tilak Doshi wrote an article for Forbes defending J.D. Vance from accusations of 'climate denialism'. 48 hours later, Forbes un-published the article. Read the article on the Daily Sceptic.
The post I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Eight Hours Later, Forbes Un-Published the Article and Sacked Me as a Contributor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday Fri Jul 26, 2024 09:00 | Toby Young
Tickets are still available to a live recording of the Weekly Sceptic, Britain's only podcast to break into the top five of Apple's podcast chart. It?s at Lola's, the downstairs bar of the Hippodrome on Monday July 29th.
The post Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Judicial Review For Dursey Island Cable Car And Visitors Centre

category cork | environment | press release author Tuesday January 25, 2022 22:38author by foie Report this post to the editors

‘INEXPLICABLE IRRATIONALITY’ IN DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR & VISITORS CENTRE APPROVAL CLAIM IN HIGH COURT JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED

JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED

An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a €10m visitors centre and cable car for Dursey Island in west Cork may face a Judicial Review after Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] were given permission today by High Court Justice Niamh Hyland to bring an application on 31 January, 2022.

JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED

An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a €10m visitors centre and cable car for Dursey Island in west Cork may face a Judicial Review after Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] were given permission today by High Court Justice Niamh Hyland to bring an application on 31 January, 2022.

Cork County Council and Fáilte Ireland applied to An Bord Pleanala to replace the existing 6-person cable car with a two-cars desynchronised reversible cable car system capable of carrying 650 people an hour. The permission includes an extensive glass-fronted visitor centre with a gift shop and 84-person cafe on the mainland with parking for 80 cars and buses. The 6 km access road is to be improved with 10 passing bays.

Friends of the Irish Environment, An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland all appealed against the grant of permission by Cork County Council in 2019. The groups called the proposal “Undesirable on multiple grounds", citing the “ecological sensitivity of Dursey” as well as the narrow stretch of road linking it to national network making it “unsuitable for a proposal of this scale.”

No Management Plan
Objections centred on the protection of the Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area for Birds, in particular the rare choughs. In their objection Birdwatch Ireland said there has been a 30% drop in the numbers of Chough, a species with special protection under national and EU law, on the island since 2003. The organisation pointed out ‘The lack of conservation objectives for the site and the lack of an existing visitor management plan or SPA management plan means that there is no pathway for long term Chough conservation through which the proposed development could fit.’

The An Bord Pleanala Inspector, who visited the island twice, showed in two Reports that the developer’s calculations of the impact of visitors which was based on Quessant Island off the Brittany Coast which also hosts chough species ‘cannot be relied on for a number of reasons.’

The ‘pro-rata calculation methodology’ for the visitor numbers allowed by French authorities that led to the Board’s decision to cap the visitor numbers at just 5,000 visitors a month or 60,000 a year ‘misrepresent the foraging area’ with assertions ‘put forward without scientific basis’, leading to the Inspector’s conclusion that ‘it is not possible to rely on the numerical visiting capacity arrived at for Dursey Island’.

The Board’s Inspector twice recommended refusal citing the flaws in the Appropriate Assessment, saying that he was ‘not satisfied beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that adverse effects on the integrity of the Beara Peninsula SPA or the Kenmare River SAC can be excluded.’

However the Board stated that it ‘accepted and adopted the Appropriate Assessment carried out in the Inspectors Report’ but nonetheless approved the proposal in what FIE Director Tony Lowes said was ‘an inexplicable irrationality’. In deciding not to accept the Inspector’s recommendation to refuse permission, the Board Order states it ‘noted and acknowledged the inconsistent methodology and incorrect data but considered that ‘capping the visitor numbers and significant mitigation measures would address these issues’.

Alternatives not assessed
Friends of the Irish Environment, whose offices are on the Beara Peninsula near the development, said that they had found after a visit to the Board’s Dublin offices that their files contained an alternative proposal which was prepared in April 2013 by consultants on behalf of Cork County Council.

The ’Dursey Island and Cable Car Strategic Review’, described by the Council as a ‘feasibility study’, outlines an upgrade of the existing cable car at a then estimated cost of €600,000 instead of the approved proposal which it is now estimated would cost €10 million. This alternative, which would satisfy the urgent need for a replacement of the existing cable car, was never assessed in the 2019 Environmental Impact Assessment as an alternative. ‘combined with the recommended electronic signage at the main road and in Castletownbere and Glengarriff show waiting times, this alternative was never considered

In its appeal against the project, FIE cited the ‘Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape’ from Cork University Press which says ‘Irish tourism now faces a crossroads. It remains confused as to whether the country should aspire to be a cheap mass-market destination, or expensive high-end niche market’.

In its appeal, An Taisce suggested that ‘The model for the future of tourism investment in West Cork should be non-car-based and promote longer stays accommodated in locations to a level commensurate with the capacity of the host environment rather than the high-volume car or bus-based day trip model upon which the subject project is based’.

ENDS

Contact: Friends of the Irish Environment 353 (0)87 2176316 / 353 (0)27 74771
Advisory on original appeal: https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/17721-leading-environment-groups-oppose-7m-dursey-island-mass-tourism-project

Copyright © 2022 Friends of the Irish Environment, All rights reserved.
Press Release

Our mailing address is:
Friends of the Irish Environment
Kilcatherine
Eyeries, Cork P75 CX53
Ireland

© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy