An Irish company has secured a prestigious five–year contract for work in the British houses of parliament with which it has historic links.

Valentia Slate Quarry in Kerry, is to provide slate for renovation work in the Palace of Westminster. The slate was used in the original building and also to roof the palace when it was rebuilt after a fire in 1834. 

The slate is laid in ornate designs on the floors of the building, which are being restored.

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A geologist has cast doubt on claims that there is a vast reservoir of shale gas in west Clare of up to 3.86trn cubic feet.

Last night, three geologists addressed a group in the west Clare resort of Kilkee who are opposing plans by a British–based energy company, Enegi, to commence fracking to extract the shale gas in west Clare. In December, Enegi had published a study which found recoverable resource estimates for the area to between 1.49trn cubic feet and 3.86trn cubic feet of shale gas. 

However, senior lecturer at UCD Peter Haughton said he would not be as optimistic as Enegi in terms of the reserves. 

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OPPOSITION TO wind energy is growing, with the formation last June of a campaign representing community groups in 13 counties from Donegal to Wexford.

Yvonne Cronin, spokeswoman for the Campaign for Responsible Engagement with Wind Energy (Crewe) Ireland, said it aimed to inform the public about the impact of wind farms as well as lobby politicians to “protect the human rights” of those living in areas where wind turbines are being planned. 

One of Crewe’s first moves was to support a Private Member’s Bill introduced in the Seanad by John Kelly, Labour Senator from Roscommon.The great value of Senator Kelly’s Bill, in Crewe’s view, is that it would lay down a minimum “separation distance” of 1.5km between wind turbines and the nearest occupied house. At present, planning guidelines on the development of wind farms specify a distance of 500m, or closer with landowner consent.

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OPPONENTS OF proposals to extract shale gas in the west and northwest held a number protests at the weekend as part of a “Global Frackdown Day of Action”. 

Events in Galway, Leitrim, Cork and Belfast coincided with up to 100 events across the US, Europe and Australia, including a “Poetry Against Fracking” event in Vitoria, Spain, and protests at the British Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton. 

In Carrick–on–Shannon, Co Leitrim, some 150 protesters lined the town’s bridge across the Shannon. The protest also featured open–air traditional music sessions and children’s face–painting in the afternoon sunshine, while a number of business premises also displayed anti–fracking posters. 

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A NATIONAL movement to highlight concerns about wind farms says it has the support of some 15 community groups along the Atlantic seaboard.

The grouping, currently called the Campaign for Responsible Engagement with Wind Energy, is due to hold its first meeting in Strokestown, Co Roscommon, next weekend, where it will by addressed by Senator John Kelly (Labour), backer of legislation aimed at setting minimum distances between turbines and family homes.

Mr Kelly said that with turbines now as high or higher than Dublin’s Millennium Spire, there was growing unease among communities over the pace of wind energy development.

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OPPONENTS OF a wind farm project have called for a national review of wind farm development which they describe as the “new construction boom”.
“Along with ghost estates, we are going to have ghost wind farms due to oversupply of targets, if and when subsidies end,” Cavan based environmentalist Peter Crossan has warned.
Mr Crossan, part–time farmer and former chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Truth Alliance, and northeast GP Dr Kevin Deering, have lodged an appeal to permission for a wind farm approved for Knockranny, Moycullen, Co Galway, on the Connemara border.
The project, approved last year by Galway County Council, involves 14 turbines each of 140m (460ft) in height within one kilometre of seven houses.

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Exploration company Providence Resources expects to become the first company to make a commercial oil find in Irish waters on foot of better than expected drilling results at its Barryroe well off the West Cork coast.

With at least 59 million barrels of recoverable oil in the (fifth) Barryroe well, and with global oil prices consistently above $100 a barrel, the well could be producing oil for public usage within the next two years.

Providence chief executive Tony O'Reilly Jnr said that the implications for the Irish economy are considerable.

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FINE Gael is set to cave in to yet another rural lobby group, with a substantially increased compensation package for turf cutters, the Irish Independent has learned.

After slashing the €50 septic tank registration charge to just €5, at a loss of €20m, the Government is suddenly about to double the compensation for turf cutters this year.

The controversial compensation package is being offered to owners of bogland in special environmental conservation areas to get them to stop cutting turf.

This year alone, the enhanced compensation will cost the taxpayer another €2.5m -- the cost of keeping the Vatican Embassy open for the next three years.

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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE Cork is suing the Electricity Supply Board for €18 million at the Commercial Court over flood damage suffered in November 2009.
UCC claims the university sustained significant damage to its property on November 19th, 2009, following a period of significant rainfall when the ESB allegedly released a substantial volume of water from two dams operated by it on the river Lee. UCC claims the ESB was negligent and caused severe flooding by releasing too much water in too short a time.

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Fracking, which involves using water to fracture rocks to drill for natural gas, is causing concern among people in the mid and northwest about the potential environmental and health considerations related to the activity.

Countries worldwide have taken a wide range of positions towards regulation of the activity, ranging from France, where it is banned, to the USA and Canada, where extraction is permitted on a commercial scale. Fracking has allegedly caused huge water pollution problems in the US.

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Water at risk if exploration method used, claim activists

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Plan for UK to receive renewable energy from Republic could be worth €1.6bn a year

The British government could massively subsidise the Irish wind energy industry under proposals to be considered in London today, in a move that could be worth up to €1.6 billion a year: THE BRITISH government could massively subsidise the Irish wind energy industry under proposals to be considered in London today.
Britain believes the west coast and the seas around Ireland can provide it with a large amount of its renewable energy and could be willing to subsidise offshore wind farms there.

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Last Thursday, hopes of establishing a mine at the site received a major boost, with Belmore Resources recommending to its shareholders to accept a €7.2 million cash offer from Lundin to buy out the company. Belmore's sole asset is the Clare prospect and the offer represents a windfall for its shareholders, 60% of whom are Irish.

Speaking yesterday from Ontario, Lundin Mining's senior vice-president of exploration and new business development Neil O'Brien said: "If the deposits are there, we will find them and push on to establish it as the next mine for the Lundin Corporation."

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The Lough Allen Natural Gas Company (Langco) and Australianbased Tamboran Resources have been given onshore petroleum licences to explore the area which takes in parts of Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Cavan and Fermanagh.

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Canadian mining giant Lundin has joined with Belmore Resources to explore Belmore's licences for silver, zinc and lead at Kilbrecken near Quin. According to Belmore Resources director Pat Mahony, these latest results "are very positive."

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The Living Planet report looks at the changing state of ecosystems, consumption of natural resources and the implications for the future of the world.

Overall, the report concludes natural resources are being consumed faster than the Earth is replenishing them. People are now living lifestyles which would require one and a half planets to sustain, though there are significant differences between rich and poor nations.

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