Work on the new entrance to link the Bank of Ireland Car park, situated on Emmett Street, Thurles, with the adjacent new Thurles Slievenamon Road car park; latter opened back in 2020 on the south side of Liberty Square, has now finally begun.
Entrance to Bank of Ireland car park on Emmett Street in Thurles. Pic: G. Willoughby.
The work was originally scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year, subject to funding being made available.
We understand that the work will include the removal of the Bank of Ireland’s current car park entrance wing walls, leading on to Emmett Street and the provision of a new setback boundary wall. Same will then see the removal of the old stone wall, between the bank and the Slievenamon Road car park, with the provision of footpaths, public lighting, signage, resurfacing and lining.
With little information being made available to the public, it is difficult to picture or indeed understand how off-street parking in the town will be anyway improved by this new measure. One problem it will not solve is the major traffic congestion in the centre of Thurles town. However, the removal of the stone wall between both car parks granting a second exit (see background of image above), should assist vehicles to exit and enter this area more freely, especially those shopping in the British multinational retailer Tesco and the parking of vehicles for those attendees, visiting loved ones reposing at Hugh Ryan’s Funeral Home.
Details of costings in relations to this work has not been shared publicly with taxpayers, as yet.
In this racing age in which we now live, one of the most pleasurable of activities seems earmarked for total oblivion. I refer, of course, to that once-popular activity of just ‘waitin’ around’.
In almost all situations in life there are moments when the world comes temporarily to a standstill for the partner and I. Such as when the number 8 bus to Dalkey whizzes past us on an evening we had planned a convivial evening with the in-laws before dashing to the theatre. On occasions such as this, one can easily distinguish between those who have read ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ and those given to kicking pavements, climbing the pole of the bus stop, grinding dentures, practising side-line hurling pucks with the brolly and roaring at junior to quit mouthing about his being late for ““Frozen” or “Paw Patrol” on the telly.
About the only people I know who enjoy waiting around are young courting couples who, like the partner and self, take advantage of the standstill in time to communicate with a touch of hands or a plain old giggle-giggle. People in general, though, have little inclination to just wait around any-more. As for the partner and self, we enjoy nothing better, except, of course when partner has an appointment at the hairstylist. A little waiting around is (and the Jesuits may correct me), damn good for the soul. It is like a little retreat as beneficial as any (with respect) at our Retreat Houses. Mind you, people will insist (particularly possessive wives) that such waiting around periods are fraught with peril for the soul. And indeed there are men who, while waiting around, see nothing but romance in every female on the street. Hardly the stuff “retreats” are made of, though I will not act the hypocrite and deny I am like the rest of men, (partner, forgive me!).
Still, marginally, mind you, there is more to the great world than ladies hurrying home from office, shop or factory. One could, for instance, eavesdrop on the private lives that often become very public at a railway station or a bus stop, when detainees and ‘in a hurry folk’ moan about the vicissitudes of life such as their working day presents them with. Times you know when a station waiting room or a bus stop can be a public confession box. Waitin’ around is good for my business. Once I was forced to wait for an hour for the partner outside a Tipperary Hotel and wondered, irascibly, when she would arrive. In the course of that hour I met the secretaries of umpteen societies and groups who were leaving the hotel after their respective meetings, all cheery and talkative of course, after leaving the hotel lounge-bar.( Mind you, after the introduction of the smoking ban, there are more people just waiting around than ever before).
Eh, begad, I was given press releases, secretaries’ reports and off-the-record statements I should never have acquired under more sober circumstances, had I not been waiting around. Maybe more journalists should hang around hotel exteriors after closing time!
There are some people who live in a small town all their lives and never really know it. Not me. From waitin’ around for the partner I know the colour of every shop front, the registration number of every car, the habits of every courting couple in town. I am better than a Garda and I am likely to know at what precise time the town drunks are about to render a few bars of “Show Me The Way To Go Home” or “The Red Flag”.
At Thurles Railway Station, while waiting around I have welcomed home emigrants, congratulated young boys and girls off to their first job in the Civil Service or to College; consoled hurlers coming back from Dublin trophy-less and (before I was wed), asked to dinner bright young things from New York and Paris arriving to ‘au pair’ in Tipperary.
Really, I almost envy the professionals at the ‘waiting around game’. Corner boys, people on strike, reserves on teams, gentlemen of the road, all good people who serve right well, though they only stand and wait. Which reminds me, partner has been waiting around for me to drive her to the Post Office. “On my way, dear. On my way”.
END
Tom Ryan, “Iona”, Rahealty, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Progress, economic prosperity, and health all threatened unless Ireland increases the scale, pace, and ambition of environmental action.
Dul chun cinn, rathúnas geilleagrach agus sláinte i mbaol mura méadaíonn Éire scála, luas agus uail.(Irish Language Translation: Progress, economic prosperity and health are at risk if Ireland does not increase scale, speed and ambition (pride).
Ireland has modernized and prospered since joining the EU over 50 years ago – future prosperity and health are threatened unless we better protect our environment.
We are continuously playing catch-up – a forward step in one area is often matched by one or two steps back in another.
Actions on many fronts are having positive impacts but are entirely inadequate to deliver a healthy environment.
For too long we have merely aimed to ‘get by’, aspiring to only minimum standards – in many instances, we don’t even reach those.
Serious action cannot be postponed – we need a rapid and resolute advance in environmental performance driven by a national policy position on the environment.
For too long, the Report says, we have merely aimed to ‘get by’ aspiring to only minimum standards, and then in many instances not even meeting those. The report shows that actions on multiple fronts to address issues are not keeping pace with growing pressures and our environment continues to degrade. What is now needed, the report continues, is a strategic leap, a shared vision for how we will adapt our lives and work to protect our own existence within the next decade, and a national policy statement on the environment that articulates and drives this transition.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Ms Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA said: “We have made immense progress as a nation. Our membership of the EU helped us achieve that. We now look back to a time when we had serious industrial pollution of our rivers, when we relied on over a hundred municipal dumps, when we burned smoky fuel in our cities – and we can never go back to that”.
“But where we are right now,” Ms Burke added, “while it is better, is nowhere near good enough. We are always playing catch-up. We now have virtually no seriously polluted rivers, but we have hardly any pristine ones left, either. We now recycle more, but produce more waste than ever and export much of it. We are taking positive actions across multiple fronts, but they are not keeping pace with the growing pressures, and our environment is being squeezed. Increments now are not best use of scarce time and resources: We need to make a fundamental shift.”
That fundamental shift, according to the report, would start with a national policy position on the environment, that allows for long-term planning and would ensure that the environment is prioritised consistently across decades.
The report identifies five key essential areas we must prioritise to deliver the impact we need:
We urgently need a national policy position on the environment.
We must rigorously implement existing environmental plans and programmes to achieve the benefits that they were developed to deliver.
We need to transform our energy, transport, food and industrial sectors.
We need to scale up investment in water, energy, transport and waste management infrastructure.
We need to understand the absolute link between protecting our environment and protecting our health – harm one and we harm the other.
“We know what we have to do” Ms Burke added. “Our energy, transport, food and industrial sectors are the core of where this transformation can, must, and will happen. We must harness all of our resources to meet this challenge. Not acting now only postpones inevitable change that will be much more difficult, and more costly, later on.”
Dr Micheál Lehane, EPA Director said: “It is clear that our environmental challenges are interconnected and they are complex. We need to drive action across climate, biodiversity, sustainable consumption and pollution goals. This will not be easy and we cannot underestimate the challenges of moving to a path of a less wasteful, regenerative society. The IPCC has highlighted that there is now a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. It is not negotiable. We need our air, water and natural environment to continue to prosper. You either change for the environment now or the environment will irrevocably change us and how we live later. We, in Ireland, must do our part in making this sustainable future a reality.”
Ms Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA concluded: “We can no longer take the environment for granted. By taking determined actions, we will ensure we are not going to go back, or playing catch-up. This time, we need to be ahead. A healthier environment is attainable for all and is within our reach.”
Provide training, guidance and other support to the Local Community Safety Partnerships, including assistance in formulating Local Community Safety Strategies and Action Plans.
Foster inter-agency collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination.
Provide national communication regarding community safety.
Yesterday, Monday September 23rd 2024 it was announced that Ms Gráinne Berrill had been designated as the first Director of the National Office for Community Safety.
This office newly established is expected to be a game changer for community safety in Ireland and will lead on the establishment of the new Community Safety Partnerships, enabling communities to develop their own local community safety plans.
Ms Berrill brings with her a wealth of experience in the public and Community & Voluntary sectors, having held several senior roles, including most recently as the Coordinator of the Drogheda Implementation Board; a cross agency, cross sectoral response to rising concerns regarding crime and fear of crime in the area.
As Director, Ms Berrill will oversee the management and administration of the National Office for Community Safety, which will be established under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, when the Act is commenced by the Minister later this year.
The National Office will play a central role in the rollout of the Government’s ambitious new strategy for improving community safety. Working closely with Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs), the Office will be responsible for providing support, training, and guidance to local authorities to enhance community safety across Ireland. This initiative represents a key component of the Government’s broader efforts to promote inter-agency collaboration and inclusive community engagement at the local level.
The National Office will build on the work of the LCSP pilot partnerships which have been running in Longford, Waterford and Dublin’s North Inner City for the last number of years. Each has developed and published a local community safety plan and through independent monitoring and evaluation has helped inform best practice for this forthcoming national roll out.
The National Office for Community Safety will have the following functions:
Provide support to public service bodies in the implementation of the national strategy and to foster collaboration between those bodies in the provision of services to improve community safety.
Prepare annual programmes of work to support the implementation of the national strategy.
Provide training, guidance and support to LCSPs in their operation and in the performance of their functions.
Monitor the implementation of the national strategy.
Monitor the implementation of Local Community Safety Plans (which will be published by each LCSP).
Conduct or commission research and evaluations relating to any of the functions of the National Office and the operation of LCSPs.
Promote public awareness of issues affecting community safety and the work of the National Office.
Provide such information and reports as are requested by the Minister, the Steering Group and the designated committee of the Government.
Provide such other support as the Steering Group may require to perform its functions.
Construction waste is Ireland’s largest waste stream with over 9 million tonnes generated annually.
Over 80% of construction waste is soil and stone.
Excavated clean soil and stone is a valuable resource which is better reused in other projects.
The EPA’s new National By-product Criteria provide rules for the safe reuse of greenfield soil and stone and prevents it becoming a waste.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published National By-Product Criteria for Greenfield Soil and Stone.
These criteria allow for the classification of greenfield soil and stone as a by-product, meaning the material does not become waste. Keeping materials in use is one of the fundamental elements of a circular economy and enable useful soil and stone materials from one site to potentially be reused for landscaping, reprofiling of land and other similar uses.
Commenting on the criteria, Mr David Flynn, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, said: “Construction is the largest generator of waste in our country, in the region of 9 million tonnes annually with the bulk of this being soil and stone waste. Embracing new approaches to design, materials choice and modern methods of construction will shift the sector onto a more sustainable path. Today, the EPA is streamlining the regulation of construction materials to promote the reuse of useful soil and stone that would traditionally end up as a waste. This opens up more opportunities for safe reuse, and offers greater regulatory certainty to the industry and stakeholders while ensuring appropriate safeguards remain in place.”
The European Waste Framework Directive puts a priority on construction and demolition waste. Construction activity comes at an environmental cost, putting pressure on our natural resources, biodiversity, and generating significant waste quantities. The scale of wasted resources and materials in the construction sector needs urgent attention.
Mr Warren Phelan, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme noted: “These criteria present a real and meaningful opportunity for the construction sector to follow a simple set of rules and in doing so reduce soil waste from sites and make tangible savings. These latest criteria are the third in a series of national decisions introduced by the EPA to support improved material circularity in the construction sector.”
Further information on the national by-product criteria and other initiatives of the circular economy programme are available on the EPA website.
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