The Fraud behind Water Fluoridation

Scientists rely on application of scientific research and the use of evidence to establish or conform facts. This research involves the application of scientific method to answer questions and increase our understanding of the research subject.

In undertaking my risk assessment of the potential impacts of fluoridation of drinking water in Ireland I started with the NHS York Review commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health which was at its time was the most comprehensive independent examination of water fluoridation every undertaken in the UK, Europe and perhaps the World. The report was published in 2000 and following its publication it became apparent that their was deliberate misrepresenation of their scientific findings by pro-fluoridation organization's both in Ireland and the UK in order to present water fluoridation as safe.

The published letter by the Chairman of the NHS York Review Professor Trevor A. Sheldon dated 3^rd January 2001 raised many serious concerns for the integrity of science when he noted that “It is particularly worrying then that statements which mislead the public about the review's findings have been made in press releases and briefings by the British Dental Association, the British Medical Association, the National Alliance for Equity in Dental Health and the British Fluoridation Society.”  Professor Sheldon felt that this was so serious that it required him to published a letter correcting these misrepresentations, in which he clearly states that the HYS York Review found that review “did not find water fluoridation to be safe” and “to be significantly associated with high levels of dental fluorosis which was not characterised as "just a cosmetic issue".”  

The Chairman of the York Review further noted that the review found that “there was little evidence to show that water fluoridation has reduced social inequalities in dental health” and that the quality of scientific evidence to demonstrate that fluoridation of water reduces dental caries was of particular poor quality lacking rigorous study methodology and analytic techniques.

Following their comprehensive review of published dental studies the NHS concluded that “There ‘appears’ to be some evidence that water fluoridation reduces the inequalities in dental health. This effect was not seen in the proportion of caries-free children among 5 year-olds. The data for the effects in children of other ages did not show an effect. The small quantity of studies, differences between these studies, and their low quality rating, suggest caution in interpreting these results across social classes in 5 and 12 year-olds.”

Clearly, what this is stating is that, despite hundreds of millions of taxpayers money being spent on water fluoridation and after over four decades of implementing this policy, there was no conclusive evidence to demonstrate that it actually benefited children at all. Any evidence of benefit was only circumstantial, furthermore what they found was that water fluoridation had no beneficial effect whatsoever on children under 5 nor did it benefit children over 12 years of age or adults. The NHS York review concluded that was a total lack of high quality research undertaken on public water fluoridation and that any evidence of benefit must be taken together with the increased prevalence of dental fluorosis. The York Review further found that any future research into the safety and efficacy of water fluoridation should be carried out with appropriate methodology to improve the quality of the existing evidence base. No such studies have every been undertaken.Astonishingly not one these findings were presented by the Irish Forum for fluoridation when they published their report in March 2002 and reviewed the findings of this study.  In reality the Irish Expert Body misrepresented the York Review findings suggesting that they found water fluoridation to be safe and did so despite the publication of the letter in January 2001 by the Chairman of the NHS York review which specifically corrected these statements.

For any scientist or professional this raises serious concerns about the objectivity, transpaprancy and accuracy of the review undertaken by the Irish Forum for Fluoridation, as a consequence of which I commenced my own exhaustive review of scientific factual peer reviewed information. This was not easy to undertaken and involved piecing together individual scientific research from over two hundred and twenty separate peer-reviewed scientific publications covering every aspect of science, medicine and environmental toxicology. All of the facts presented in my report are from reputable published scientific and medical sources. That means the facts are published and peer reviewed by academic peers. In total over twelve hundred scientific studies were examined in preparation of my report examining the health, legal and environmental impacts in some detail alongside associated risks that had not yet been previously examined elsewhere.

From my review it is absolutely clear that all of the evidence is convergent and demonstrates that fluoride compounds should not be added to public water supplies, when examined collectively the evidence clearly demonstrates that fluoridation of drinking water supplies is both unsafe and having significant negative health implications for human health, society and the natural environment.

One central and astonishing fact that has been documented repeatedly by every assessment to date is that the products used for water fluoridation have never been tested for safety on humans nor the environment. In quantifying the potential public health risk from fluoridation of drinking water, my review found that in excess of fifty comprehensive epidemiology, toxicology, clinical medicine, and environmental exposure assessments were identified requiring urgent examination on fluoride and silicofluoride chemicals in order to accurately quantify their risks to human health. It is not only incomprehensible but immoral, illegal and criminally negligent that none of these studies have ever been undertaken by the responsible regulatory authories in Ireland.

For the past forty plus years, unique to Ireland within the EU, the management of public drinking water supplies form part of a Government medical intervention programme that consumers have not consented to. In addition consumers have not been provided with information informing them of the negative side effects of consuming fluoride or silicon in drinking water supplies. It is an indisputable fact that the State has not tested the chemicals administered to the public in drinking water or adhered to the minimum requirements of EU legislation for protection of public health or the environment. Incredible the people of Ireland are led to believe without any supporting evidence that the policy is safe and effective for all sectors of society. This approach represents scientific fraud and misconduct of the highest order and should not be tolerated by any society. It is a unquestionable fact that water fluoridation is using untested, unapproved, uncontrolled and unsanitary industrial chemicals to medicate populations in a manner that is illegal and unethical.

My review can be downloaded for free for public benefit from http://enviro.ie/risk.html

Declan Waugh

Risk Management, Environmental Auditor and Environmental Consultant 

Urgency required to enact climate change legislation

While governments, financial markets and the international media devote endless resources in a attempt to save an unsustainable economic model everyone appears to be ignoring the real and present danger that is approaching. We are all passengers on the metaphorical Titanic as a true human crisis and tragedy unfolds. We continue predictable to ignore at our peril the consequences of our failed high carbon energy economic model. According to the findings of a report just published by the International Energy Agency providing the most thorough analysis yet of the worlds energy infrastructure we are fast approaching the last change to combat dangerous climate change. They are very clear in their observation that if we don’t act now to reduce our carbon emissions the opportunity to limit dangerous climate change will be lost forever.

If a fraction of the money used to bail out the failed private banking institutions in this country alone had been used to create sustainable jobs in developing renewable energy, investing in our energy infrastructure and supporting education and investment in new low carbon technologies, that would provide clean indigenous energy to our communities and industry, the economic future of this country would be secure.

Despite intensifying warnings over the past two decades from academic, scientific, medical and engineering institutions and United Nations organisations including the World Health Organisation, governments around the world are preparing yet again to postpone international agreement on climate change. What we are being told in no uncertain terms is that Economic development takes precedence over environmental protection and the very survival of humanity. Only by protecting our environment and investing in sustainable development infrastructure have we any real security. While Ireland beat Australia in the recent rugby world cup, they beat us in enacting crucial Climate change legislation last week. I plead with the Irish Government as a citizen of this country to follow their example and enact climate change legislation as soon as possible and begin the transformation of this country into a truly smart low carbon economy.

Living History Through Film

The Skibbereen Eagle may have been famous for declaring ‘it was keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia’ in the 19^th century but it can definitely be said that Russia is now keeping its eye on West Cork based on the experience of noted historian Gabriel Doherty, lecturer in Irish revolutionary history at University College Cork. Mr.Doherty recently presented a lecture in St.Petersburg, Russia, on the Irish War of Independence and Civil War period, incorporating in part the much acclaimed and award-winning Irish independent film The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which won the Palme d'Or for best film in Cannes 2006.

The film as many will recall was largely shot on location in West Cork, most notably in Timoleague, Coolea and Bandon town where Bandon Town Hall, Hamilton Highschool, the Allen Institute and North Main Street were used as key backdrops for the film. Many of the extras for the film came from the local community in the Bandon and Macroom areas.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an Irish war drama film directed by Ken Loach and set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) and the Irish Civil War (1922–1923). Written by Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from the United Kingdom. Many of the events represented in the film are associated with real historical figures based in and around Bandon Town during this historic period. Bandon remained largely at the centre of events that occurred during this period, with noted rebel leaders such as Sean Hales and Tom Barry of the West Cork Brigade and Anna Hurley, the leader of the Bandon branch of Cummann na mBan, all residing in the area. Within Bandon town, the British Army were present in force with two factions stationed in separate army barracks, the Essex regiment commanded by the notorious Major Percival and the Black and Tans who were stationed in the Devonshire Hotel. According to Tom Barry, no Black and Tan atrocity in Cork came close to what the Essex Regiment did; he personally attempted to assassinate Major Percival on at least one occasion for his role in what Tom Barry regarded as war crimes. There is no doubt that the Essex regiment were despised for the atrocities that they committed, on one occasion capturing two close friends of Tom Barry’s ; Tom Harte and Patrick Hales and mercilessly torturing them. The torture itself of Hales and Harte is believed to have influenced a scene in the film The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

Many may not realise that during the period of the War of Independence, Bandon town and its hinterland remained one of the most active regions nationally for republican activity. The West Cork Brigade was involved in successful military engagements at Toureen and Kilmichael just one month preceding and after the tumultuous event of Bloody Sunday in Dublin. Within months of it, the West Cork IRA, led by Tom Barry, carried out a large-scale ambush at Crossbarry. They were nearly surrounded but manage to escape. This was one of the largest military encounters of the War of Independence.

Not shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1921 rebel activity reached a high point with the British garrisons at Bantry, Skibbereen, Drimoleague, Clonakilty, Bandon, Innishannon and Kilbrittain all under attack. The period was one of high anxiety with the countryside griped by violence and suspicion. Reprisals by the British forces involved the destruction of property and arrest, murder or harming of civilians; this in turn led to further reprisals by republican forces who commenced a campaign against Irish country houses. Some 16 country houses were destroyed around Bandon town and Commandant Sean Hales, leader of the Bandon Battalion of the IRA kidnapped James Francis Bernard the 4^th Earl of Bandon and Lord Lieutenant of County Cork.

During the final four weeks of the War of Independence, armed parties of the IRA engaged in military activity in Bandon on eight occasions, the Innishannon Post was fired at on four occasions and Kilbrittain Barracks sniped at five times. British soldiers were wounded at Ballylickey as was a Black and Tan sergeant and an enemy agent in Bandon. Yet another Essex soldier was shot dead within sight of his Bandon barracks and one more Black and Tan was killed in Skibbereen. The successes in West Cork were not without sacrifice as many local volunteers and patriots from Bandon, Kilbrittain, Timoleague, Ballinadee, Courtmacsherry, Dunmanway and Rossmore were killed in the struggle for independence. Not long afterwards, two of West Corks most famous leaders suffered a similar fate. On August 22^nd 1922 Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, was shot dead at an ambush at Béal na mBláth and four months later his friend and comrade Sean Hales T.D. was gunned down outside Leinster House in Dublin. His brother Tom Hales fought on the opposing side and commanded the Flying Column, which attacked the Free State Army convoy at Béal na mBálth resulting in the death of his friend, Michael Collins.

All of this sets the scene for the first screening in Bandon of the award-winning historical film The Wind that Shakes the Barley on Sunday 25th September in the Town Hall by Bandon Film Society in conjunction with the Engage Arts Festival. Of particular interest to many in West Cork and beyond will be the historical talk to be given prior to the film by Gabriel Doherty, lecturer in Irish revolutionary history at University College Cork. Gabriel has edited several volumes on this topic, including studies of Michael Collins, Eamonn De Valera and the 1916 Rising. He has also written and lectured numerous times on the subject. His lecture will no doubt be interesting and insightful with its focus on the historical themes, personalities and episodes alluded to in the film and the extent to which its depiction of the War of Independence and Civil War is faithful to the historical record.

Additionally, to mark the participation of Bandon and its community in this award-winning film a commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the Town Hall on the night at 7.20pm by the Town Mayor.

Booking for the event is highly recommended as places are strictly limited. Tickets for the double bill historical talk and film screening are €10. To avoid disappointment, please call 086-3689939 or 087-1205022 to book tickets. Tickets are also available at the following outlets in Bandon town: An Tobairín, Bandon Books, URRU and Hickeys Newsagents.

Constitutional Challenge to Euro Bailout

Last week the German Constitutional Court made a very important ruling that may have long lasting consequences for Europe and the survival of the euro. What is particularly interesting in an Irish context is that their Courts examined the constitutionality of the Euro bailout with respect to German basic law and the federal powers of the German Government.

Notably the Constitutional Court ruled that the eurozone bailouts were compatible with German Basic Law, since they do not provide an excessive burden on the German budget, do not constitute a significant transfer of power away from the federal government, the Bundestag nor impact negatively on the euro’s purchasing power.

Interestingly the Court also ruled that, in order to conform to the German constitution, “the Federal Government is in principle obliged to always obtain prior approval by the German Parliamentary Budget Committee before giving guarantees.” and“The Bundestag, as the legislature, is also prohibited from establishing permanent mechanisms…which result in an assumption of liability for other states’ voluntary decisions, especially if they have consequences whose impact is difficult to calculate”.

What is evident is that the burden of the euro bailout on German taxpayers can be challenged in their Constitutional Courts and that those same courts can set the legal parameters on which any bailout must comply. How unfortunate that no such Court in Ireland similarly examined the constitutionality of the banking guarantee imposed on the Irish citizen and the transfer of billions of euros of private debt created by voluntary institutions, developers and limited companies both at home and abroad onto the Irish taxpayer.

I wonder is it not too late to still challenge the constitutionality of the Irish Banking Bailout? It is clear given the verdict of the German Courts that the banking bailout imposed on Ireland would be regarded as incompatible with German basic law if it was imposed on the German State given that in Ireland it has created an excessive burden on State and society, the State budget resulting in loss of economic sovereignty and the transfer of power from the nations parliament to the IMF and ECB; violating the very conditions imposed by the German Constitutional Court last week.

What a pity that we do not apparently have laws similar to those of the German legislature despite our common membership of the European Union. It appears that it’s one law of one member state and no law for another. In Germany their parliament is prohibited from establishing permanent financial mechanisms, which assume liability for other states decisions, including decisions to loan to private banks in Ireland. While in Ireland the taxpayer is instructed that we must assume liability for all private banking debt including voluntary decisions made by European banks to loan to private banks in other jurisdictions, an action that has resulted in an unsustainable level of debt burden with disastrous social and economic consequences both in Ireland and other peripheral European countries such as Greece. Impacts we unfortunately are only beginning to witness that will last for perhaps generations to come. In my mind there is no doubt that we must challenge the constitutionality of the Irish banking bailout and where the constitution may be seen to be weak in protecting the rights of Irish citizens it must to be changed to reflect the challenges that we now face.

Gulf Stream threatened by Arctic flush

As reported in New Scientist this week RAPID warming in the Arctic is creating a new and fast-growing pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean. Measuring at least 7500 cubic kilometres, it could flush into the Atlantic Ocean and slow the Gulf Stream, bringing colder winters to Europe.

The water is mostly coming from melting permafrost and rising rainfall, which is increasing flows in Siberian rivers that drain into the Arctic, such as the Ob and Yenisei. More comes from melting sea ice, says Laura de Steur of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research in 't Horntje, who is tracking the build-up.

Salinity anomalies like this are a regular feature of the Arctic. The last major event occurred in the 1960s. They happen when strong winds circling the Arctic restrict southward water movement. Eventually, the winds falter and the water flushes into the Atlantic through the Fram strait, between Greenland and Europe.

Recent Arctic melting opens up the possibility of increasing the build-up, potentially making the consequences of the eventual breakout more extreme, says de Steur. A dramatic freshening of the North Atlantic could disrupt the engine of a global ocean circulation system called the thermohaline circulation, or ocean conveyor. This system, of which the Gulf Stream forms a part, is driven by dense, salty water in the North Atlantic plunging to the ocean bottom near Greenland.

"In the worst case, these Arctic surges can significantly change the densities of marine surface waters in the far North Atlantic," says de Steur.

Some 13,000 years ago, a major freshening of the North Atlantic shut down the circulation and plunged the Earth into a cold snap, known as the Younger Dryas era, which lasted for 1300 years. That was the result of an influx of fresh water much larger than is building up now, but some climate models do predict the circulation could weaken in coming decades, says Detlef Quadfasel of the climate centre at Hamburg University in Germany. The discovery of pooling fresh water in the Arctic suggests how this could happen.

The monitoring is being carried out as part of Project Clamer, a 10-nation European project into the impact of climate change on the waters around Europe.

Avoiding the mindset of reactionary defeatism

We live is a society that should operate on the basis of co-operation as we all have a stake in what kind of future we want for ourselves and the next generation. For too long we as a society have allowed powerful minorities to dictate the direction our entire economy and society has been pushed into. We are now witnessing the consequences.

What happened in this county in the past ten years is beyond absurd, it’s a tragedy. We have allowed profits to dictate the direction our entire society has been pushed into, with the active participation of a corrupt political system that rewarded the minority, rather than protecting the public good. Until we change the models and system of governance we use to determine what directions our society goes from solely profit motivated to notions of the common good, we will be doomed to repeat the past.

Since the foundation of this State we now face our greatest challenge. How will we as a people react to the current social and economic crisis we face?

In the face of the enormity of the economic crisis the most critical danger to us all is the mindset that equates with being a helpless victim, a sort of reactionary defeatism. Jan. 20, 2011 was the 50th anniversary of a quote by the late President John F. Kennedy on the occasion of his inaugural address given on Jan. 20, 1961. Kennedy quoted the Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran when he intoned the famous quote, " Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”. Has not the time come for each of us as a citizen, a civil member of this country to question what talents, professional expertise or other skills or services can each of us donate to our communities to build a better society. In reality this means what can we do to help our newly elected government (regardless of our status and affiliations) in its responsibilities.

The most critical task our government faces is re-negotiating the terms of the banking bailout, followed by fiscal management, local government and public sector reform. On this note I would end with another quote from President John F Kennedy’s inaugural address when he said “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

Let us hope that our Government are up to the task?

Questions to ask political canditates for the 31st Dail

What do you see as the main difference between the role of a local councillor and T.D ?

How do you see we can improve the service provided by our elected Dail representatives? Should they work on local issues that should be the remit of local councillors or national issues and policy development?

As a TD what would you like to legislate for?

There currently 6000 people politically appointed to over 800 quangos. How do you believe government appointments to state boards and semi state companies should be undertaken?

What level of funding have you received to support your election campaign? and If elected where you are a standing councillor who have you appointed/named to replace you on the Local Authority?

What is your position or your parties position on the State sellling off state assets and privatising utilities and semi state companies such as the ESB, Bord Gais, Bord Na Mona and Coillte.

Do you believe the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has worked? And what do you see as the future for banking in Ireland?

This Universal Social Charge (USC) is a tax and does not provide a benefit to those paying the charge.
All individuals are liable to pay the USC if their gross annual income is more than €4004 (€77 a week). This will impact most severely on lower income families. Do you support the introduction of the universal social charge.? If elected will you fight to retain or remove it ?

Do you or your party support the recent reduction in the minimum wage, blind pension and carers allowance and would you reverse this decision?

We have entered a period of major upheaval with rising food prices, a growing world population, climate change, peak oil and increasing pressure on natural resources, what will this mean for Ireland and what policies would you or your party advance to address these issues?

Ireland prides itself as a food exporter, yet nearly half the food we eat in this country is imported. How do you explain that imports of food and drink from the UK to Ireland (pop 4.5 million) grew by 6pc in 2010 to €3 billion (equivalent to the average person eating €1000 worth each year) while our exports to the UK (pop 65million) were valued at €3.5 billion? If current trends continue Ireland’s food trade surplus will continue to diminish. What would you do to protect and expand food production in Ireland? (Note: The rise in imports is due to the power and purchasing decisions of retail companies such as Tesco, Lidl, Aldi. Who control the largest market sector in Ireland, Irish food producers cannot compete with the power of large multiples)

What is your position on education? Do you support the existing Government policy decision that fully qualified teachers should work for free to gain work experience? If so what about other unemployed graduate professionals in other disciplines? And why not politicians?

If our domestic economy continues to decline and we must pay the interest on the IMF-ECB bailout and sovereign debt as a result of the bank guarantee how will the state fund future spending on social welfare, healthcare and education?

The national pension reserve fund was established to fund the future public sector pensions; now that it has been used for bailing out the banks what plans have you or your party for the state to fund pensions in the future?

Social welfare spending accounts for 38% of government spending, the main areas of expenditure include old age pensions, widows, widowers and one parent families, Illness, disability and caring allowance, unemployment support and child related payments. With an ever-increasing older population and higher unemployment the demands on social welfare will rise. How will we fund this service in the future? And where do you see cost reductions or savings can be made?

Ireland spends less on education than most other OECD countries. Funding primary education is vital to ensuring access to education for all our children and laying the foundation for future education, growth and development. Spending on secondary and third level students is double what is spent on primary pupils. Do we need to invest more in primary education? Where can we make savings in education spending so we that our investment is more sustainable and long term?

Do you agree that the state should continue to facilitate and fund children being educated in prefabs and temporary accommodation while hundreds of millions was spent on a failed government decentralisation policy including brand new state of the art facilities for public servants? How would you address this imbalance and injustice?

What reforms would you like to see in how Dail Eireann works?

Do you agree with the abolition or reform of Seanad Eireann?

What we have learned from the past ten years is that a government is only as strong as its opposition. Do you believe that a Fine Gael/Labour coalition with a massive Dail majority and weak opposition is in the best interest of the country at this time? And if so please explain why?

Seanad Accountability and the Finance Bill 2011

At a time when the public and political parties are demanding accountability and transparency in the houses of the Oireachtas and when the very future of Seanad Eíreann is being openly discussed one would imagine that the Seanad would have a full attendance for its last and most important act of the 30th Dail, debating and enacting the Finance Bill.

The Seanad comprises of 60 representatives yet the attendance and voting record of Senators for the Finance Bill show that on Friday the 28th January exactly ten Senators were absent for the crucial vote comprising a remarkable 17% of the Seanad.

On Saturday afternoon for the Final Stages of the Bill nine senators were absent.Throughout the debate and vote the Fianna Fáil-led government side had a majority on all divisions tabled by opposition parties, but almost lost a critical vote on one late recommendation made by Labour and supported by Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and the Green Party which would have seen the Dáil asked to vote on whether to force banks to publish the bonuses paid to bank staff since the bank guarantee was introduced in 2008.

The vote was won by a margin of one in favour of the Government with the support of Senator Ronan Mullen of NUI Galway. What may be of interest to voters is that Senator Mullen voted against the Finance Bill at all stages yet for some reason at the eleventh hour supported the government on this recommendation. How is this possible? Where is the transparency and accountability?

What may also interest voters in the forthcoming election are not just the Fianna Fail, Green Party and some Independents who supported the Bill but the absentees voters our public representatives who were required to be present to enact or reject what was one of the most important acts of legislation in the history of the State, one that will have untold consequences for the people of this country. In particular Senator’s Fidelma Healy White, FG Galway West, Paul Coghlan, FG Kerry South, Labhras O Murchu, FF Tipperary, Pat Moyan, FF Laois Offaly and Senator Marc MacSharry, FF Sligo who were absent for all stages of the Bill.

So now the Finance Bill is introduced and we may never know what bonuses were paid to banking staff during the period 2008 to January 2011, thanks in part to some opposition Senators not being present for the crucial vote.

Transparency and accountability indeed.

Zombie Government

We’ve heard a lot about zombie banks in recent months but what got us into this crisis is a zombie government. A government that appears to be staggering aimlessly from one crisis to the next, cannibalising the economy to feed its insatiable addiction to saving the private banking sector at the cost of our economic sovereignty.

The primary responsibility for what has happened in Ireland lies with our own political, administrative and banking sectors. Fianna Fail have been in power for 18 of the past 20years. They represent the Anglo Irish bank of Irish politics. Their political manifesto is one of party cronyism-appointed supporters to key positions in all sectors of the economy from the Financial regulator, to the boards of banks, FAS and 800 other quangos. These are appointments not based on skills or experience but on the basis of who they know. Through these appointments they control the avenues of power in this state.

Nor does it stop there. They have wrecked our health system, mismanaged our education system, destroyed our banking system and now handed over our National Pension Reserve Fund to further bail out the failed banks. Money which should be used for strategic investment will now be used to further bankrupt the state and wreck any opportunity of recovery. This is the latest in a long line of disastrous decisions that have had catastrophic impacts on the state. This government has utterly failed to take responsibility or accept the consequences of their actions and incredibly continue to speak for and represent the nation in negotiations with the IMF and the EU. Slowly but surely it is dawning on intelligent, responsible and productive adults everywhere that the people they have elected to run the country on their behalf are simply running it for themselves.

The political ideology of the past has failed. Today, we as a nation look into a financial abyss brought about by a total failure of authority and democracy. We urgently need political reform based on a new vision for the 21st century. A political system fit for purpose, one that looks to the future not the past, one that encourages people with real skills and experience into politics, not seeking a lifetime career but a period of national service where they have a responsibility to the citizens of the state first and foremost. The time for civil war and trade union politics routed in the 1920s is long gone.

As a people we have evolved but not our government and political system. Unless our political system is radically changed nothing will change. We need to change the political system before this county turns into a zombie retirement village, run by a zombie government in a nation cannibalised by a failed capitalist and political system.

Over 50,000 people turned out in Dublin last Saturday; I was among them. Having talked and listened on the day to a lot of people of all ages from college students to pensioners, everyone had one common belief. We need political reform. It's time we said "Enough!"

Shining a light from West Cork to Rajasthan on the Worlds Poorest Communities

This past week Partnership for Change, a Cork based low carbon and climate change initative received notification from India that the community based, sustainable energy and lighting project it sponsored through the support of West Cork based EnviroManagement Services and Bord Gais was successfully completed.

As we turn the clocks back and darkness desends earlier for the winter months it is a little easier to imagine what life must be like for those that have no access to artificial light or electricity. We have travelled light years technologically since the days when our homes, towns and villages were in darkness after nightfall, save for oil lamps and candles. The daily illumination of our homes is something we take for granted until there is an unwelcome power outage resulting in an interruption to our energy-fuelled lives or indeed until we read about the unfortnate incidences of households in Ireland now being disconnected because they cant pay their utility bills.

It is hard to believe that there are still over 1.6 billion people around the world who do not have access to electricity and are thrown into darkness as soon as daylight fades. Access to electric lighting allows people to illuminate their environment, providing them with artificial light so that they can undertake basic tasks, like cooking, reading, and household chores. It allows children to study, reducing poverty and provides basic human needs within the household. In instances of no access to electricity many people are forced to light and heat their homes with kerosene lamps. The World Bank has found that burning kerosene indoors to be equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. It is estimated that almost one billion women and children are breathing in kerosene on a daily basis. Continued use of these lamps can cause infection of the lungs or eyes as well as respiratory problems. In addition to the significant health risk of the fumes, fires can also erupt when a lamp is knocked over or when household items or clothes are exposed to the flame.

It was to help tackle this that Partnership for Change supported the ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ (LABL) campaign founded by TERI, The Energy and Resources Initiative, based in India. The LABL campaign aims to bring light into the lives of a billion people across the globe who don’t have access to articifical light or electricity.

In support of TERI’s campaign, Partnership for Change organised a major international climate change conference in Cork in November 2008 through which the proceeds have now directly benefitted the lives of 250 people in a village in Rajasthan in rural India. Proceeds from the conference went to two other charities as well as the ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ campaign.

This Climate Change Conference supported by some of Ireland’s leading companies was the largest and most significant conference on the topic of climate change ever to have been held in this country, hosting international experts from the field of climate change science. Appropriately, Partnership for Change, which was founded by Bandon-based environmental scientist and consultant Mr. Declan Waugh, committed to making the conference as carbon-neutral as possible. Driven by this objective, some of the international experts who addressed the conference did so remotely by live video confereencing which was sponsored by BT. Both Dr James Hansen, the Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Institute and leading world climate change expert, as well as Dr.Vicky Pope, the Director of the British Hadley Centre for Meteorology and Head of Climate Change for the UK Government, spoke to the conference by live-video link up from America and England respectively. Both speakers took questions from the delegates at the Cork-based conference following their lives addresses. Questions and answers flew back and forth between Ireland, the USA and England at what seemed the speed of light. This cutting-edge technological element to the conference which brought world leaders in the field of climate change science to Cork city added greatly to the ‘energy’ and excitement levels on the day not to mention the reduction in the carbon foot-print of the Climate Change Conference.

The third speaker to address the conference delegates remotely was the Chairman of the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr.R.K Pachauri, who also founded TERI.

Over the last two years, the TERI campaign using renewable solar powered energy sources around has illuminated 30,000 households spread over 550 villages across 15 states in India. Work on the village of Balesar in the state of Rajasthan was funded entirely by Partnership for Change has now been completed. The project involved establishing within the community a solar powered co-operative, managed by the women of the village and providing the funding to install the solar power technology. The project also trained the co-operative members and providing recharagable lamps to every household in the village. It benefitted 250 people within the village directly and created one full time green job in the village.

Founder of Partnership for Change, Declan Waugh says that “knowing that so many people, especially women and children have benefitted from the provision of clean renewable energy light sources to their rural village in India is very rewarding. It will increase the standard of living of the villagers and make a real difference to their everyday lives while also supporting and creating sustainable green jobs in rural communities.”

Other charities which benefitted from the proceeds of the conference included Water Aid and Médecins San Frontieres, both organisations that assist populations that are being affected daily by the impacts of climate change and humanitarian crises around the globe including most recently the earthquake in Haite and the catastrophic floods in Pakistan.

Our Bleeding Country

I have had the great Patrick Kavanagh’s words floating in my mind this past few months.

I have taken the liberty of rewriting his poem 'O Stony Grey Soil of Monaghan' to represent our current state of thinking.

Our Bleeding Country

O Soldiers of Destiny

The laugh from my soul you thieved

You took the gay child of my passion

And gave me your clod conceived

You clogged the feet of our children

We believed in your strut and tumble

Having the poise and stride of Bertie

And his voice the thick tongued mumble

You told me the Celtic Tiger was immortal

Our futures were safe and secure

Your country now bankrupt your citizens blunted

A banking and political system impure

You sang on steaming dunhills

A song of coward’s brood

You drained the public purse,

With your nose in the taxpayers trough

You have flung this countries future

A future once bright and strong.

O Soldiers of Density

You burgled my bank of youth!

Lost the joys of employment and pleasure

All the young men and women that leave

O can we still stroke the monster’s back

Or write with unpoisoned pen

Your name in these lonely verses

Or mention the dark future where

The first gay light of our youths future

Got caught in a bankers prayer.

From West Cork to Dublin City

Now there’s four hundred and fifty thousand

In a welfare state that shows no pity

And a population bludgeoned.

Declan Waugh courtesy of Patrick Kavaghan

Economic Crisis and a Failed Democracy

This is the most dangerous Government in the history of this State which has preceded over the destruction of our economy and left my generation bankrupt, unemployed and without effective leadership

Our system of governance is a sham, power is supposed to belong with the people. In the view of this Irish man who actually gives a damn, the democratic system we have in this country has utterly failed its citizens. Its not just Fianna Fail fault, the strength of a government can only be judged by the strength of its opposition and it is fair to say that the opposition has failed abysmally.

The majority of issues started from 1987 when Fianna Fáil got into power, they preceded over deregulation of the financial system, lack of corporate governance, massive overspend in public infrastructure projects, inept planning policy and total lack of enforcement regulation, HSE mismanagement, public sector benchmarking, the property bubble, FAS, decentralisation, the universal bank guarantee, Anglo Irish Bank and NAMA. We were told unequivocally by this Government that the bank guarantee would be cost neutral for the exchequer and may even bring a profit, at this moment it appears our country is insolvent as a result of the bank guarantee.

The Irish banking system is looking as credible these days as the Afghanistan Kabul Bank assuring the world that it absolutely, positively had enough capitol to available meet all its obligations (ie. About five days before it went bust last week). Unlike Anglo Irish Bank it was not guaranteed by the State, what we have witnessed in Ireland is the transformation of private debt into public debt on an unprecedented scale. We are now in unchartered territory, with no compass, no leadership, no map and a rapidly sinking boat.

National debt now stands at 67% GDP up from a surplus of 3% in 2006. On top of this the bill for paying our public sector is soaring, unemployment is approaching near half a million and we need to borrow €30 billion a year just to pay our public sector.

We were in no uncertain terms betrayed by Government, by the unions, by ourselves. We appear unanimously to be furious about this Government, it has the lowest approval rating of any government in the history of the state, yet nothing has changed.

We continue to hear about innumerable indications (and no conviction) of perjury, bribery, corruption, embezzlement, favouritism, self service, abuse of power, etc, and we all know that this is not even the tip of the iceberg.

I am sick to death of this dysfunctional Government (and its opposition) and their perverse attempts to make the ordinary citizen of this county carry the can for the incompetence of a tiny number of wealthy elite.

In a true democracy the state does not command us, we command the state, democracy means government by the people. Right now more than ever we need to change the political system; out with the old failed civil war politics and in with a new form of government for this century and future generations. Democracy in this county has been Government for the highest bidder and in the past twelve years Fianna Fáil and the PD’s greased the system, the unions and public service to ensure three electoral successes and we let them.

Irish citizens have and always should have the right to choose who represents them. Irish citizens should also be given their right to choose who represents them in the middle of an Economic crisis. I believed last year when I spoke against the banking guarantee and Anglo Irish Bank at the Green Party convention on NAMA that an Election was the only answer to this problem. Ireland belongs to its citizens and not political parties who choose power over democracy. When the Green Party voted for NAMA, I along with many other members resigned. We were told that the bank guarantee would be cost neutral for this country and may even make a profit, I did not believe it then and the results are clearly in; it has bankrupt our state.

The failure of this Government to hold the three outstanding by- elections further illustrates their contempt of democracy. Yet the Government remains in power while the opposition dithers and bickers.

Irelands gross external debt increased by 262% under Fianna Fáil and the PD’s from around €521 billion in 2002, to over €1.36 trillion as of 30 June 2007. In March 2010 the Central Statistic Office (CSO) stated that the gross external debt of all residents sectors in Ireland amounted to €1.67 trillion. The bulk of this debt lies with failed banking institutions and we the taxpayer are being left to carry the can. In a population of 4.5 million that’s €370,000 per citizen on top of their negative equity mortgages and reduced income.

In the words of the soldiers of density, a lot done more to do!

So how much more is left to be done?

It is easy to identify who is responsible; they remain sitting in government and on the opposition benches, failed politicians for a failed generation. Our entire political system is corrupt. Something is rotten in the state of Ireland and we need to realise that only we can change it. The longer we dither, the more we lose.

Times Passing, Shinagh House, SWS Co Operative, Bandon

It is with a sense of sadness that I visited Shinagh House on the 10th September last to meet with some of my past colleagues on their last day in Bandon prior to their move to Cork city. I relocated home to West Cork to work with SWS Group in Jaunuary 2000, starting the new millenium with a new career and fresh hopes for the future.

I spent seven years working in Shinagh house at a time of tremendous change within the organisation and established a new department and created new jobs based in West Cork. I remember the enormous pride combined with some trepidation that I personally felt in providing employment to recent graduates while also giving summer experience to students from across West Cork and throughout Munster.

Shinagh House was a melting pot of incredible people; men and women working together in a co-operative in areas as diverse as marketing, IT, agriculatural services, forestry, environmental services, farm relief, accounting, corporate services, auctioneering, recruitment and rural development. It was truly a unique work environment, one that it is unlikely we will ever see again in West Cork.

In the early part of the last decade there were in excess of 120 people working under the one roof in Shinagh House in addition to the considerable numbers employed in the call centre, which was also located on the estate providing much needed trade and business to Bandon town and beyound. Its closing will be a huge loss to the community, one that I deeply regret and wish otherwise.

In memory of my time in Shinagh House I would like to wish all the wonderful people I had the pleasure of working with during my time there the very best.

I was truly fortunate to have met so many incredible people and hope that this will not be the end of days for such a remarkable building and work environment, overlooking the wonderful Bandon river valley with its majestic woodland, green fields and the morning mist rising from the river.

If ECB wants Anglo to survive, let it bear the cost

This article deserves to be circulated so here it is as reported in the Irish Times by Fintan O Toole this week.

The only reason left for saving Anglo is the EU and ECB must have decided no European bank can fail. We can’t afford to do it, so Mr Trichet will have to, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE

IN LITTLE Britain, Vicky Pollard is a delinquent teenager who begins every answer to an awkward question with “yeah but no” before plunging into a stream of incomprehensible drivel.

In Little Ireland, Vicky Pollard is a member of a delinquent government who begins sentences with “yeah but no” before plunging into a stream of incomprehensible drivel. Here is Eamon “Vicky” Ryan on Morning Ireland last Thursday, attempting not to answer a straight question from Aoife Kavanagh.

Aoife: “Does that mean you favour a faster winding down of Anglo Irish Bank than had originally been proposed, ’cause that’s exactly what Senator Dan Boyle said and he was very clear about that?” Vicky: “Yeah but no, he wasn’t, yes of course, you would, would want, we want, to move on quickly from the mistakes that were made . . . ”

He may or may not have added, “Oh my God! I so can’t believe you said that.” I’m not sure, because at that point, his voice was drowned out by the screams in my head.

Eamon Ryan is one of the brightest people in Irish politics. If he can’t articulate Government policy on Anglo without going adrift on a sea of verbal slurry, it is safe to assume that no one can. It cannot be articulated because it is irretrievably mired in nonsense.

Propping up Anglo is one of the most momentous decisions an Irish government has ever made and it can no longer say why it is doing it. Yet, by a process of elimination, we are at last getting to the truth at the core of this policy. We have been given, in all, five different explanations by the Government of why we must continue to pour money into Anglo and, lest we forget, its mini-me Irish Nationwide.

The first was that these institutions were basically sound but needed temporary rescue from a liquidity crisis. No one needs to be told how stupid that was.
The second was that we needed to give them the money to get credit flowing into the economy again. This was always a cynical line spun for the supposedly gullible masses – Anglo and Nationwide never lent significantly into the real economy and will never do so in the future.

The third reason we’ve been given is that it was vital to avoid having zombie banks. This actually has been achieved – as the Financial Times pointed out last week, Anglo is nothing as lively as a zombie. It’s a “rotting corpse”.

The fourth proposition was that saving Anglo and Nationwide was necessary to maintain Ireland’s “credibility” with the international financial markets. In fact, watching a State borrow endless billions at high interest rates to shovel them into a grave has merely enhanced our incredibility.

Which leaves us with the fifth reason for the strategy, and the only one that makes any sense: that the European Union, and more specifically the European Central Bank, have decided that no European bank should be allowed to fail.
Strip away the drivel and the spinning and this is the one truth left standing. At least if we clarify this much, we can also clarify the nature of the decision that now faces us.

The choice is now stark: do we go on being “good Europeans” at the cost of destroying our own society or do we become “bad Europeans”, lose the trust of some of our European partners, but save ourselves?

There are costs to be paid whichever choice we make, but we know which side we have to pick. In the appalling state we’re in, there is just one rational course of action: tell the ECB that if it wants Anglo to survive, it can save it.
Otherwise, we are calling in the bondholders and negotiating a debt-for-equity swap in which this brat becomes their baby.

And yes, this will be most unpleasant. We’ll be accused of causing a new crisis for the euro, German magazines will run cartoons of greedy Irish piglets sucking on the teats of the German taxpayer, German politicians will issue statements telling us to sell off the Cliffs of Moher and Skellig Michael.

Brian Cowen won’t get ego- boosting profiles in Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal will rip down its posters of Brian Lenihan. The initial market reaction will be terrible. Everyone will hate us – until they find someone else to hate.

But we have to do it anyway. Whatever the ECB’s Jean Claude Trichet says, Anglo is not merely an Irish problem – it was European banks that fed its frenzy for cash and the ECB is now its biggest debtor – and Ireland has done its best. We’ve tried the “good Europeans” track and it has led ever further into the wilderness.

There comes a point of existential crisis when even the meekest of countries has to put its vital national interests before its international obligations. We are at that point now.

If Trichet is determined that Anglo should not fail, the message from Government must be: “La clé est dans la porte. Voici le numéro de téléphone de Monsieur Dukes.”
© 2010 The Irish Times

Bandon Frontier Town of Munster

This week marks National Heritage Week 2010, which kicked off with the Irish Walled Towns day last Sunday 22nd August. To commerate this and the wealth of history, natural heritage and culture that West Cork has to offer I will attempt to recreate the period associated with the development of many West Cork towns but especially Bandon, the frontier walled town of Munster.

The Darkest of Centuries
The late 16th and particularly the 17th century was one of the most brutal and oppressive periods in the history of Europe and Ireland. This darkest of centuries began with the last stand of the Gaelic lords against the English in the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, the flight of the West Cork Earls to Spain in 1602, widespread famine in 1603 and the assassination of the last prince of Ireland Donal Cam O'Sullivan Bere in 1613.

What followed was a century of religious persecution, wars, famine, plagues, rebellion and ethnic cleansing on an unimaginable scale and not just in Ireland but throughout Europe. This century had the most profound and devastating impact on Ireland, it left in its wake a desolate land and its population perished as a result of war, starvation and plague. A second great exodus at the end of the century saw tens of thousands forced into exile to find service in France, Spain and beyond. Indeed, so great was the number of these exiles that landed in France over the next half century, from the landing of James' army up to and including the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, that the French war-office computed that upwards of 450,000 Irishmen laid down their lives in the service of France.

The Plantation of West Cork
Many towns in Munster, and in particular West Cork, owe their origin to Queen Elizabeth’s colonisation of Munster following the defeat of the Geraldines in the Desmond rebellion. The rebellion marked a watershed in Ireland, after three years of scorched earth warfare the population was decimated by famine and plague. Although English control over the country was still far from total, the southern Geraldine axis of power had been annihilated and in 1585 the lands of many West Cork clans were confiscated by the English crown. Into this wasted and almost dispeopled region, Elizabeth resolved to introduce English colonies. Not long afterwards, a series of English settlements sprung up in south-west Cork, in particular at Baltimore, Crookhaven, Bantry Bay and Bandon, frontier settlements on the edge of the English empire, deep in the heart of Gaelic Munster.

The Plantation of Bandon and the Nine Years War
In the Bandon area the O'Mahonys, who supported the rebellion, were uprooted from their castle at Castle Mahon (later Castle Bernard) and 40,000 acres of their land was confiscated. This land was given to the English undertaker Phane Beecher who set about attempting to colonise it from 1590 onwards.

The early years proved difficult and dangerous. Bandon lay on the outer edge of the area under English control; it was surrounded by a vast woodland populated by wolves, deer and the displaced O Mahony clansmen and other rebels. With the Nine Years war, another Irish rebellion against English rule came to Munster in 1598 most of the settlers were chased off their lands and took refuge in Cork city or fled back to England. The war was won in Kinsale in 1601; the battle marked the failure of the Spanish effort in Ireland, the collapse of the Ulster resistance, the completion of the Tudor conquest and the eclipse of Gaelic Ireland.

In this new century, Bandon developed rapidly as a frontier town. The early years saw rapid deforestation with the East India company purchasing large tracts of woodland in 1612 to be used as a fuel for smelting. In 1613 and 1619 the First Earl of Cork, Richard Boyle, purchased the former owner's interest in the town of Bandon and by 1625 Boyle was the sole owner of the town on both sides of the river. He built new houses and set about building the town walls and gates. The walls began in 1613 and were completed by 1625.

The Walls of Bandon & Irelands first workers’ strike
The walls were generally about nine feet thick, and varied in height from thirty to fifty feet. There were six bastions each mounted with two guns and the area enclosed by the walls was estimated at 27 acres compared to 30 acres within the walls of Londonderry. The fortifications in Bandon, however, were said to be the best in Ireland. By 1622 there were about 250 houses in Bandon and a population of over 2000 English families residing in the town and neighbourhood. By comparison in 1659 the population of Derry was 586. Within a century, Bandon would be the largest town in County Cork.

One notable event occurred during the building of the walls with what may be the first recorded strike in Ireland. The stonemasons demanded a pay increase and all of them bar one went on strike when it was refused. Boyle being anxious to complete the walls as soon as possible finally relented; the strikers won the day and upon their return, they murdered their fellow mason and strike breaker sealing him up within the walls. Here he lay undiscovered for over 200 years until two labourers removing part of the old town wall came across his hidden tomb with his skeleton wrapped in a large flag surrounded by his tools and a small silver coin.

Rebellion of 1641 & Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
In October 1641 the native Irish rose in rebellion in counties Derry and Tyrone. The rising spread rapidly throughout Ireland and made its first appearance in West Cork in Glandore. Panicked settlers throughout the region fled to Bandon for protection as it was the only walled town west of Cork. Before the rebellion was one year old, it was reported that one thousand of them lay buried within the churchyard walls as a result of hunger and disease. By 1642 all of the West Cork chieftains were outlawed and the same year civil war broke out in England. What followed in Ireland was a period of widespread sectarian violence and killing of civilians on both sides. Throughout the country only the areas where English settlers were concentrated such as in Cork city, Youghal, Kinsale and Bandon remained in the hands of protestant settlers.

The warfare and bloodshed of the 1640s ended in a terrible manner in 1649 with the arrival of Cromwell. While Cork city was the first town in Munster to declare for Cromwell it was the townspeople of Bandon, however, that acted first to deliver up Bandon town by forcibly taking the garrison for the Parliament and Cromwell. The invasion and victory of the English parliament under Oliver Cromwell had a catastrophic impact on Ireland. It resulted in the death of a least 400,000 people out of a population of around 1.5million inhabitants.

After the war vast tracts of land were confiscated and the second plantation of Munster began. Not only did Cromwell confiscate lands and force tens of thousands into exile but he also sent many thousands into slavery to work the tobacco plantations of the West Indies, Virginia and other colonies. Many of these poor souls left in slave ships from Kinsale. Into this waste land, new colonists flocked to Ireland numbering, it is suggested, more than 200,000.

Rebellion in Bandon, Kind James arrives in West Cork
Following the death of Cromwell, the monarchy was restored but peace did not last long. In 1685 England again rebelled against the Stuarts in the reign of James the second. The Irish siezed the opportunity to rebel in support of King James. The English settlers and protestant population were terrified. Many fled the country to the new world. A new charter was conferred on Bandon and the provost of the town was now a catholic, Teige McCarthy. The garrison in Bandon town was under the command of Captain Daniel O Neill who held the town for King James but not for long.

In September 1688, apprentice boys in Londonderry closed the city's gates to deny admission to a Catholic regiment under Lord Antrim. In February 1689, the townspeople of Bandon likewise rose against the garrison and seized control of the town in support of William of Orange. Without adequate provisions and lacking sea access, the town was quickly taken by Jacobite forces under Owen McCarthy.

News of the rebellion enraged King James when he landed in Kinsale a few weeks later. After this act of rebellion the walls of Bandon were partially demolished never to be repaired. The forces of King James marched on Derry but the population refused to surrender; the city held withstanding a three month seige before relief came by sea. James’ forces were subsequently defeated in the Battle of the Boyne. After two centuries of violent resistance, colonisation and rebellion the surrender of the Irish lords was to bring what it set out to establish. It determined the political, social and ecomonic development of Ireland to this day, controlled through a centralised system of governance over the localised Irish system of family rule and the absorption of the Gaelic world into the English world.

Plans for Ireland's first Climate Change Park in Skibbereen

A new proposal speadheaded by Declan Waugh founder of a not-for-profit climate change initiative
Partnership for Change and Director of EnviroManagement Services is set to influence how Ireland responds to the treat of climate change and flood risk management.

Mr Waugh an Environmental Scientist and Chartered Water and Environmental Manager has prepared a draft design for the creation of Irelands first climate change park to be created in the town of Skibbereen.

The proposal could see the creation of a climate change park that would create a floodplain to increase flood water storage and the resilience of the Ilen River to floods. The proposal would also see the creation of new amenities for the town that would be transformational in their design, supporting the principles of sustainability, increasing biodiversity and enhancing the urban built environment by providing an inspirational green space for the community.



The project designer Mr Waugh said “the park can provide an example of how green spaces can be enhanced to cope with climate change providing sustainable drainage systems that can help deliver natural flood management while also offering much needed tourism and amenity benefits to the town of Skibbereen”

Mr Waugh, recipient of the 2009 Cork Environmental Forum environmental person of the year award is a member of the Bandon Flood Task Group and Environmental pillar representative on the Cork County Council’s Strategic Planning Committee. He recently prepared and funded a detailed socio-economic assessment template for Bandon town to examine the impacts of the recent floods in addition to presenting a comprehensive examination to Engineers Ireland and Cork Environmental Forum on the Bandon River Catchment and flood risk management. The presentation included a review of the planning history, recent developments on floodplains, water catchment management and the role of professionals in particular engineers in planning cases and is available to view freely on the www.partnershipforchange.ie

Declan said “following on from this presentation I also wished to provide whatever assistance I could to the community of Skibbereen which suffered devastating floods on two occasions last year. The climate change environmental park was something that was always on my mind and following discussions with some members of the community I decided to put these ideas down on paper for circulation and wider consultation”.

Since preparing the draft he has circulated the proposal and design to the head of flood risk management of the OPW, the County Manager Mr. Martin Riordan, Minister for Environment John Gormley, Minister for Sustainability Ciaran Cuffe, the EPA, An Taisce, Skibbereen Business Association, West Cork Development Partnership, West Cork Tourism, Skibbereen lions Club, the River Ilen planning project liason executive, local TD’s and elected officials.


While Declan is still waiting on responses from various parties the head of the OPW Flood Risk Management Division Mark Adamson observed that "this is an excellent proposal, well aligned with the catchment-based approach to flood risk management, the concepts of managing flood risk (rather than solely relying on flood prevention) and the principles of the Guidelines on the Planning System and Flood Risk Management" and has forwarded it through his offices to the OPW engineers addressing the current flood management plans for Skibbereen.

While last years flooding may have been exceptional recent extreme weather experiences in West Cork, particularly in Skibbereen and Bandon, have highlighted the urgency to plan and prepare for future risk scenarios, especially the management of water and urban flooding. “We must not become complacent, the issue of flood risk management has not gone away” said Mr Waugh. “While we have enjoyed some wonderful weather this past month we must be reminded that other communities across Europe and worldwide have suffered catastrophic flooding and loss of life during the same period”

While thankfully no lives were lost in Ireland during the flooding of last November last month 20 people drowned as a consequence of flash flooding in France. In May 20 people drowned in Poland and a state of emergency was declared with flood waters up to 10 feet recorded as far as 3 miles from the banks of some rivers. Similar devastation was experienced in Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. In the past week flash floods in China have killed up to 200 people and more than 10 million people have also lost property, been injured or suffered a cut in power or water supplies as a result of the week of torrential rain. The flooding also raising concerns on food security with 1.24m acres of crops affected in China alone. This week in Brazil torrential rain devastated towns and cities in the north east where up to 1000 people are missing now presumed drowned and 120,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes due to flash flooding.

According to Mr Waugh “it is imperative that as a society we learn from our experiences and act now to protect our communities from future flooding. The needs of individuals and communities such as Skibbereen who have suffered flooding and continue to be a high risk of future flooding must be urgently assessed”

This proposal if adopted could make a real difference on the ground, improving the quality of people’s lives and helping to sustain the vitality and vibrancy of the Skibbereen town. Mr. Waugh has acted expeditiously and generously to provide assistance for the towns of Skibbereen and Bandon, it is now up to the public to come bring these proposals to the next stage. It is intended that a public meeting will take place in the West Cork Hotel over the summer months to build support around the Climate Change and Environmental Park only by working together as a community can we deliver long-term, sustainable flood risk protection for Skibbereen and West Cork.