Boil water notices issued in certain areas could increase the risk from the potentially carcinogenic chemicals, according to Friends of the Irish Environment (FOIE).

A toxin found in water supplying 400,000 people can cause miscarriages as well as cancer, environment campaigner, Erin Brockovich has warned her “Irish cousins”.

A 20-year-long battle between the government and the EU over the illegal land-fill sites and car dumps polluting the countryside, has finally been closed by the European Commission.

An environmental group has lodged an appeal against the expansion of a salmon farming operation in Bantry Bay, claiming that it would place too much stress on the marine environment.

The Ombudsman has ordered the State to release a detailed report into a salmon farm accident which resulted in one of the largest ever losses of farmed salmon.

The Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht is, reportedly, understood to be taking a legal route to have public access to a section of Killarney National Park restored.

Behind-the-scenes moves are underway to resolve a long-running dispute which has resulted in a private landowner blocking a traditional access road to a western section of Killarney National Park, Co Kerry.

Despite objections from environmentalists, councillors have voted unanimously in favour of a contentious new access road to Killarney National Park.

Local politicians in Kerry have been urged to reject the development of a road close to what an environmental group has dubbed one of Europe’s and Ireland’s most sensitive nature conservation sites.

I refer to your article last month (December 18), about my late uncle, Michael Sheehan, which was written in consultation with Tony Lowes.

The deadline for submissions to Kerry County council on a proposal by the National Parks and Wildlife Service for a roadway and car park to allow greater access into one of the most sensitive and highly protected areas of the Killarney National Park has been pushed out until Monday.

THE late Michael Sheehan returned to his native West Cork at the age of 82, after a lifetime of working on cargo boats and travelling around the world. An impulse to paint seized him and in just four years, until his death in 1996, Sheehan produced a series of naïve oil paintings depicting local historical events and the raw beauty of his birthplace, the Beara peninsula.

An environmental group is going all the way to the High Court in a bid to secure the release of a Government report into a massive escape of farmed salmon.

A prominent environmental group has criticised the EU’s decision to close two longstanding investigations into Irish salmon farming. 

An environmental lobby group has threatened to take the Information Commissioner to court as part of its ongoing attempt to obtain a report on the escape of 230,000 salmon in Bantry Bay last February.

Nuclear watchdogs in Britain have ordered the Sellafield plant to improve waste containment and fire safety after inspectors found breaches at the site.

The Department of Agriculture has refused, under appeal, to publish a report it commissioned into how 230,000 farmed salmon escaped from cages in Bantry Bay during winter storms.

Drugs squad gardaí uncovered over €5,000 worth of cannabis grown by a man at his home in Allihies, Co Cork, and yesterday he was ordered to do unpaid work in the community instead of going to jail.

More than 600 Irish farmers stand to lose more than 70% of their single farm payment in the 2014 revamp of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, says Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

Bathing water at contaminated beaches in Cork had nearly four times the permitted EU level of the E.coli bacteria, which if ingested can cause severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some cases even death.

There have been renewed calls for a new sewage treatment plant for Youghal in Co Cork following the E.coli outbreak which has closed seven beaches.

The Department of Agriculture has strongly denied claims by environmental and heritage groups that illegal turf-cutting on nine of the country’s 53 protected bogs is going unchallenged.

In response to Mr Tony Lowes ill-informed letter published (Irish Examiner, May 1) regarding fish farming, I would like to make a few factual corrections: Firstly, the Examiner’s editorial referred to was not considered by IFA or the industry to be thoughtful or informed.

A Bord Iascaigh Mhara employee was asked to leave a public meeting hosted by a group opposed to a planned €3.5m fish farm.

THE environmental lobby group that complained to the European Commission about the toxic dump in Cork Harbour fears the Government is ignoring vast areas of contamination in its long-awaited €40 million clean-up of the site.

THE High Court liquidation of five Whelan group companies has ended the quarry group’s 11-year long battle to construct a contentious €10 million explosives plant on the Shannon estuary.

IRELAND has the 10th largest ecological footprint in the world, with one of the worst records of excessive human consumption of natural resources, according to a major international report.

High cancer rates are causing concern in Cobh, writes Sean O’Riordan

THE Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) has accused the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of failing in its duty to compel the Government to get a licence for the storage of hazardous waste at the former Irish Steel site at Haulbowline in Cork harbour.

A LEADING environmental group has warned the Government will inevitably face court actions over the hazardous waste dump at the former Irish Steel site in Cork harbour.

Actor Rob Lowe and his wife are suing their former nanny, claiming she told secrets and lies about their family.

IRELAND is facing massive daily fines for allowing drinking water to be contaminated with human and animal waste, more than four years after being found guilty of breaching EC directives by the European Court of Justice.

THE Government has been criticised for failing to take appropriate action to stop potentially catastrophic floods, which could hit this country early next month.

STATE agencies can continue to charge people €20 and €45 to object to or make an observation on a planning application, according to an opinion from the European Court in Luxembourg.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have expressed concern at the Government’s fight to keep a controversial planning fee.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have expressed concern at the Government’s fight to keep a controversial planning fee.

AN environmental group yesterday criticised the Government’s “culture of secrecy” after it barred public access to sensitive documents sent by the EU.

ALTHOUGH not strictly a budgetary issue, local authorities are expected to embrace the concept of pay-by-weight refuse charges in the near future.

Environmentalists have reacted furiously to news that 40% of the site of a medieval castle in Dublin is to be lost, under proposals to build a new section of motorway.

A WINNIE-THE-POOH cuddly toy used to promote Disney videos was withdrawn from public sale after a three-year-old girl accidentally strangled herself on its straps, an inquest heard yesterday.