JOHN FITZGERALD’S HOT AIR
October 4, 2018
There are worrying signs that government Climate Change Advisory Council chair Prof John FitzGerald has fallen hook, line and sinker for agri-industrial spinning about... Read more »
COVENEY BINS CLIMATE DENIAL
October 4, 2018
Ireland’s chronic inaction on tackling climate change is inflicting acute reputational damage internationally. And while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar still thinks ‘climate action’ has something... Read more »
FOR THE BIRDS
September 20, 2018
Being a Kerry politician can’t be easy, competing for attention in an airspace dominated by the din of the Healy-Raes. But Fianna Fáil Senator... Read more »
GREENWASHING GAS
September 20, 2018
In the post-truth age, it’s getting harder to tell satire from straight news. Take this recent story that began, “For the first time, natural... Read more »
BLUESHIRTS GO ALL GREEN
September 6, 2018
They say it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt. Fine Gael’s silence on... Read more »
DENIS NAUGHTEN’S QUICK DASH
September 6, 2018
‘Climate action’ minister Denis Naughten recently fessed up in an Irish Times interview that the government’s abject failure to make even a dent in... Read more »
TRUMP SAVES GAS TERMINAL
August 23, 2018
DONALD TRUMP is the latest addition to the list of entities conspiring to help bring to life Tralee businessman Paddy Power’s dream of turning... Read more »
WEED KILLER BEES
August 23, 2018
IN THE wake of a California court’s ruling that Monsanto should pay school janitor Dewayne Johnson $289m dollars, on the basis its Roundup weedkiller... Read more »
PEAT BOG SOLDIERS
August 9, 2018
IT HAS been a cruel summer for Irish agriculture. This follows hot on the heels of what was one of the coldest springs in... Read more »
MICHAEL CREED’S COAXING
August 9, 2018
WHILE THE gardens of south Dublin may have been wilting as the hosepipe ban took effect, there is little public awareness of just how... Read more »
SEAN KYNE AND PUTIN
July 26, 2018
WHEN Donegal Independent TD Thomas Pringle’s Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill passed its final stage in the Dáil earlier this month, headlines around the world... Read more »
PUTIN’S ECO AGENDA
July 26, 2018
DONALD TRUMP said last week he didn’t see “any reason why” Russia would have interfered in the 2016 US presidential election – before clarifying... Read more »
‘FAKE MOOS’
July 12, 2018
ASTONISHING progress has been achieved by the Irish dairy sector in the last few years in massively increasing production while simultaneously almost flat-lining emissions.... Read more »
VARIABLE EVELYN
July 12, 2018
THE ONGOING heatwave seems to have got people over at Met Éireann HQ in Glasnevin a little hot under the collar. With the unflappable... Read more »
NAUGHTEN’S REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY
June 28, 2018
“PLEASE IGNORE the email you received earlier!” It’s a subject line that’s guaranteed to make you go back and actually read the email you... Read more »
WHERE’S THE BEEF?
June 13, 2018
FOR YEARS, whiny environmental types have been warning repeatedly that the Irish state is treating its legally binding international obligations to cut our carbon... Read more »
BORD BIA’S VEGETARIAN MENU
June 13, 2018
IRELAND HAS the lowest percentage of its agricultural land producing vegetables in the entire EU, at barely 1%. As a result, we are a... Read more »
PHIL THE FARMER
May 31, 2018
HAS PHIL “The Fixer” Hogan discarded the green jersey of the Irish farming sector for the tie-dyed T-shirt of environmentalism? As Enda Kenny’s environment... Read more »
DENIS NAUGHTEN’S PLASTIC PROBLEM
May 31, 2018
PUBLIC ANGER over excessive plastic is matched only by Denis Naughten’s determination to hobble any measures that industry interests find distasteful. The Green Party’s... Read more »
BOG STANDARD RTÉ PROGRAMME
May 17, 2018
“THIS IS the story of Ireland’s best kept secret.” So RTÉ’s Derek Mooney began Turf Life – A Day on the Bog. This statement... Read more »
WHAT SHELL KNEW
May 3, 2018
When Shell took over Corrib Gas in 2002, it surely did not foresee the resistance that would delay the project for more than a... Read more »
DENIS NAUGHTEN’S COFFEE BREAK
May 3, 2018
Denis Naughten had a lot on his mind recently, with the fuss over his call with an INM lobbyist, but that doesn’t excuse his... Read more »
POOR CHILLY SODDEN FARMERS
April 19, 2018
CRISIS, what crisis? It seems like only yesterday when our media was awash with heart-rending stories of starving cattle and desperate farmers as the... Read more »
Agri-bucks
April 19, 2018
WITH the average family farm income in 2016 at a dismal €24,000, and with two in three beef farmers only solvent thanks to CAP... Read more »
PLASTIC PADDIES
April 5, 2018
THE dutiful consumers of Ireland are being enlisted as (polite) eco-warriors for one day this month in the escalating global war against plastic. Such... Read more »
LEO’S WINDY ‘JOKE’
March 22, 2018
There was much to cringe over in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s lame attempt to curry favour with US president Donald Trump during his Paddy’s Day... Read more »
WHEN IS A DECISION NOT A DECISION?
March 8, 2018
WHEN IT comes to getting big dirty fossil fuel infrastructure past the various political and regulatory obstacles, the choral harmony of performers at local,... Read more »
PIPELINE TIMELINE
March 6, 2018
IN 2016, when Enda Kenny’s economic adviser Andrew McDowell became Ireland’s nominee for the €275,000-a-year job of vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB),... Read more »
MERLIN NAUGHTEN
February 22, 2018
IT’S NO secret that wishful thinking remains the main policy weapon the government deploys when it comes to hitting tough international commitments on climate... Read more »
Sacred Cows
February 22, 2018
The government’s new national development plan had that “one for everyone in the audience” feel, including a lavish commitment to spending €22bn, or a... Read more »
O’Reilly digs deep
February 8, 2018
YOU HAVE to feel sorry for those intrepid oil and gas explorers under constant siege from scientists and campaigners. Oil prices are low –... Read more »
Paddy Power’s gas terminal
February 8, 2018
EU countries can burn gas for just nine more years before exhausting their share of the earth’s carbon budget to keep global warming below... Read more »
CLIMATE: IT’S GOOD NEWS WEEK!
January 25, 2018
WHEN IT comes to addressing climate change, the twin buzzwords are mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation means doing what the science demands to slow down... Read more »
COASTING TO DISASTER
January 11, 2018
AT 1km long, Donald Trump’s Irish wall doesn’t enjoy quite as much global infamy as his Mexican wall. However, Clare County Council’s decision on... Read more »
AGRI-PR FAILS TO CONVINCE
December 14, 2017
PHIL HOGAN is about the last person you’d expect to find socking it to Ireland’s agri-food industry, but that’s exactly what the EU’s Agriculture... Read more »
IRELAND IS THE WORST IN EUROPE
November 30, 2017
BILLS TO ban fossil fuel exploration are like buses: you wait years for one and then two come along at once. Within a few... Read more »
