At a meeting of Cork County Council, on Monday, July 22, a surprising motion was passed to ask the government to review its application of the wildlife act with regards to verge/hedge cutting and maintenance of footpaths. Only the Social Democrats voted against the motion. Fiona Hayes writes on the […]
Environment
There are many animals that reach a great age. Tortoises and turtles are especially long-lived. In his lovely 1948 book ‘Over the Reefs’, Cork-born writer and artist Robert Gibbings (whose father was rector of St. Multose Church in Kinsale) told of a radiated tortoise called Tu’i Malila that lived as […]
There are no two ways about it, upgrading your home is expensive. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, (SEAI) offers financial support via a number of grant schemes but it only really covers 30-50 per cent of the cost, leaving a sizeable balance which homeowners need to fund form their […]
One of the highlights of any trip to China is the Great Wall. To enjoy it, you must see those sections far away from Beijing, where there will be fewer tourists and less commercialism. Unfortunately, when I first lived in China, nearly twenty years ago, my visit to the Great […]
Late April, the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ project held a farm-to-fork community gathering where people from each of our focus groups (food businesses, householders and community groups) got together to plan and prioritise initiatives that we will work on over the next twelve months. Once again, the enthusiasm and ideas were […]
I have a good friend who lives in Kenya – we used to teach in the same school in Mombasa. Some years ago, I stayed for a couple of weeks with her and her family in an old stone and thatch cottage right beside the Indian Ocean. Around the nearby headland […]