Meanwhile, Outside Leinster House

at

This afternoon.

Outside Leinster House.

A coalition of environmental NGOs and supporters from BirdWatch Ireland, the Irish Wildlife Trust, An Taisce, the Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations and the Hedgelaying Association of Ireland gather to protest against proposed changes to the Heritage Bill.

They also gave Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan a petition signed by over 31,000 people who reject the proposed changes.

Lake County Beekeepers writes:

The proposed provisions (changes) in The Heritage Bill rolls back 20 years of legislative protection for wildlife by extending the window for agricultural burning and hedge cutting. There is no doubt that this will have a huge negative impact on all wildlife and especially our bees. August hedgerow cutting would reduce the number of blossoms, from which honeybees develop their winter fat bodies.. It would also reduce the number of berries which birds and mammals depend on throughout the winter months.

Anyone?

Protest To Protect Our Hedgegrows (Facebook)

Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews

UPDATE:

FIGHT!

Thanks Rob Gale

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22 thoughts on “Meanwhile, Outside Leinster House

  1. ReproBertie (SCU)

    Nice one Bodger.

    Bloody government pretends to give a damn about the environment one minute and then OKs early slash and burning the next.

    The simple truth is we know that some birds are late nesters but we don’t know how many. What we do know is that some birds are still nesting well into the period that this bill allows hedge cutting and burning. That and the lack of blossoms means lack of berries means hungry birds.

  2. Truth in the News

    You’d wonder what have any of these done themselves to protect the environment, how did they get there… walk, how was the bee population decimated, was not it from bee’s them selves srpeading the varroa mite:

    1. ReproBertie (SCU)

      Ah yeah, you’d wonder what Birdwatch Ireland have ever done to protect the environment with all their nature reserves and programmes like the Rockabill Island Roseate Tern conservation project which is up for a 2018 Natura 2000 award. And what have the Irish Wildlife Trust ever done other than campaigning against Badger culling and campaigning for national parks and to protect marine fish and to protect the wetlands, forests and coastal habitats of course.

      1. Truth in the News

        How come a huge proportion of the badger population are TB carriers
        and are not culled the same as the bovines, indeed whats the purpose
        introducing eagles, was it to give a job to some state official,

        1. ReproBertie (SCU)

          I’m surprised someone calling themselves “Truth in the News” would try to defend badger culling. It has repeatedly been shown to be a costly failure. In 2012 €3.4 million was spent culling 6,939 badgers resulting in only 55 fewer cattle being diagnosed with bovine TB compared to 2011. Northern Ireland and Wales abandoned culling in favour of vaccination which costs less than culling and will cure the disease in the badger population.

          Thankfully in January of this year the minister for Agriculture announced plans to introduce vaccination but the slaughter won’t stop yet as the plan is to “roll out incrementally to other parts of the country over time, with vaccination gradually replacing the need to remove badgers”.

    2. david

      Part of the problem .i always just wonder the arrogance of mankind and the results.
      You city people just do not get it
      Nature is finely balanced and everything is relative everything lives in harmony
      You destroy one life form then there is a whole structure that could disappear dependent on what once was
      Without bees you will have not just no honey put little pollination

      1. ReproBertie (SCU)

        Who are you calling city people?

        As I understand it farming has a huge impact on wildlife and biodiversity because it messes with nature’s fine balance.

      2. Alors

        City people? More birds and increasing wildlife in cities as the wild population flees the death machine that is Irish farming nowadays!

        The stupid is strong in this government. They have us in line to follow the French farmers, who have wiped out one-third of their wild species with their hatred of hedges and their love of insecticides…

        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/europe-faces-biodiversity-oblivion-after-collapse-in-french-bird-populations

        In my Irish childhood, the day was alight with the song of larks, the night with the craking of corncrakes; I knew the booming of bitterns and saw the flash of woodpeckers racing along the rivers. This time of year the country – and even the cities – was a mass of colour as flocks of multicoloured butterflies hatched out and fluttered through gardens and farms. All gone now; people don’t even know such beauty existed only recently – and perhaps could again if we turned away from poison.

        But this government and the likely next one prefers a docile population, tied down by mortgages and motor loans, sitting in their vehicles taking deep breaths of particulates and CO2 and staring out the windows into the world they cannot hear, and perhaps wondering why they feel so depressed so much of the time.

        1. ReproBertie (SCU)

          We started putting bird feeders up in our back garden in November. We now have 14 species of bird visiting our suburban Dublin garden on a daily basis.

          If you build it they will come.

        2. Nigel

          Some farmers for everything they can to encourage biodiversity. Some farmers are ripping out old hedgerows, an act of environmental destruction akin to a bloody oil spill.

    3. Alors

      The stupid is strong in this government. We are following the lead of Central France, whose farmers have wiped out one-third of bird species in an environmental catastrophe by removing hedges and dousing the countryside with insecticides, removing all food for birds.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as-frances-bird-population-collapses-due-to-pesticides

      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/europe-faces-biodiversity-oblivion-after-collapse-in-french-bird-populations

      My childhood in Ireland resounded to the song of skylarks, the boom of bitterns and the craking of corncrakes, rare sounds indeed today; this was the time of year when flocks of multicoloured butterflies appeared in both farmland and cities. Those who are growing up now do not know that such richness ever existed, as they sit in their cars drawing in delicious breaths of CO2 and particulates…

      1. SOQ

        About abortion yes. Non consensual with a first cousin used to mean a quick marriage by the camp gay priest but now… they’ll be ordering pills online.

  3. Murtles

    ♫ It’s all about the money, money, money….♫
    Irish Farmers and Landowners backhanders to politicians = €Millions
    Environmentalers = Owl Costumes and Big Bee Hives
    Our Government is only serious about the environment when they can make some cash from it like the Carbon Tax, Plastic Bag Levy, Energy Taxes etc.

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