Public Meetings On Both Sides of Harbour as CHASE Prepares for Incinerator Showdown

Public Meetings will be held on both sides of the Harbour today and tomorrow as the community prepares for what could be the final showdown against the Ringaskiddy incinerators. The meetings will be held at:

Monkstown Bay Sailing Club – 8.00pm Monday 19 Jan

Cobh New Community Centre – 8.00pm Tuesday 20 Jan

(All Welcome)

Planning for a 100,000 Toxic Waste Incinerator, granted by An Bord Pleanala against the recommendation of its Senior Inspector, expired last week (15 Jan 2009).

Indaver have re-applied, this time for TWO incinerators, with increased capacity, under the new Strategic Infrastructure legislation. This bypasses Cork County Council and will be decided by An Bord Pleanala.

The new Fast Track legislation means THERE ARE ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT TO OBJECT. An Bord Pleanala must receive all submissions before Feb 2 2009.

This incinerator push has been rejected by

· 30,000 people who objected to the original application

· Cork County Council

· Bord Pleanala’s Senior Planning inspector

· Farming, Tourism and Food interests

· Doctors and Midwives Organisations

· A majority of Local Councillors and TD’s

Letter from CHASE action group

The following is a letter from the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) regarding the latest proposal by Indaver Ireland for an incinerator in Ringaskiddy.

The developer Indaver have decided to submit a new planning application for a toxic incinerator plus an increased capacity municipal incinerator in Ringaskiddy. Their original planning for one incinerator having expired. This facility will be very visible from all parts of the harbour.

NO to Increased Class Sizes!

To: The Irish Government
We, the undersigned, call on the Taoiseach, The Minister of Finance and The Minister for Education to reverse the decision to increase class sizes in primary education in Ireland.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

You can sign the petition here;

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?class08&1

Please take a moment to copy and paste this address to an email and forward it to all of your friends and family.

No Commitment from Minister on Star of the Sea

When the Dail returned last week I asked Deirdre Clune TD to ask the minister for education for an update on the school. I have attached the parlimentary question and reply from the minister. You can read the full text at the end of this post.

I think it is clear from the answer supplied by the minister that the only progress made since the last series of meetings and protests by yourselves has been progress on paper only.

While the school has moved up the priorty list no money has been allocated and there is by no means a

Port of Cork planning turned down

Check out Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment for information on the recent decision by An Bord Pleanala to refuse planing permission to the Port of Cork for their proposed new container terminal at Ringaskiddy.

The decision was greeted with joy by residents in the lower harbour… This joy was however short lived as the revelations about Haulbowline hit the headlines shortly afterwards.

Carrigaline Area Left Light on Representation

With the publication last week of a review of boundaries for local elections by the Minister for the Environment, the residents of the Carrigaline electoral area have been left disgracefully under represented on Cork County Council.

Public meeting on Star of the Sea School- Minister disappoints

Parents and concerned residents were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Minister Michael Martin at tonight’s public meeting in Star of the Sea primary school. However they were equally disappointed by his lack of commitment, his poor grasp of the facts and his bully boy tactics in shouting down ladies in the audience to make his own point.

The minister denied ever promising a new school, making semantic distinctions about “being approached by the board of management” and giving “sanction” for the project while not committing to it.

Where is our new School- Website launched

As the fight for a replacement for Star of the Sea primary school intensifies members of the parents association have launched a website of their own complete with online petition! I would urge everyone to visit the site and sign the petition.

 http://whereisournewschool.com/ 

A protest held on Monday 10th of March was well supported with 250 protestors and a large amount of local and national media. A public meeting is scheduled for April 14th. More details to follow here and on http://whereisournewschool.com/

Please take the time to read the site sign the petition.

No hope for Star of the Sea School, Passage?

Since starting this site the primary concern of most people in the town has been the lack of progress on the Star of the Sea school redevelopment.

Most of us will have received information in our letter boxes telling us that the government parties are looking into the issue and that the school has been moved from one design phase to another…. Well this is not the case! 

Cork Airport Debt

The following article comes compliments of Colm Burke MEP.

I was delighted to see media reports during last week that Ryanair is supporting the calls from Fine Gael and the other opposition parties, as well as Cork Chamber and other key