Search Results for: Ireland

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a scheme for the development of the natural gas infrastructure in Northern Ireland that will mean supplies from the Republic of Ireland being pumped into the north for the first time. The Commission said that eventually the infrastructure may be extended to north-westerly regions of Ireland, such as Donegal, which are not currently served by natural gas and it therefore “takes a big step towards the development of an all-island natural gas infrastructure.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
MINISTERS of the 15 European Union countries have reached agreement on the Trans-European Energy Networks directive. The ministers have essentially supported the Commission proposal of last year and Brussels officials predicted that the European Parliament will do likewise later this year.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ONE of Britain’s best-known food safety experts, Deirdre Hutton, has been appointed to the board of the newly formed European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Ms Hutton, who is chairman of the National Consumer Council, led a recent DTI panel on the Food Chain and Crops for Industry and was a member of the government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (the Curry report).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a case at the European Court of Justice against the British government, which is claims has failed to abide by European Union laws on environmental impact assessments for studies carried out on water management and green-field development projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH government is to be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission for allegedly failing to prioritise the processing of waste oils by regeneration, supposedly breaking the Waste Oils Directive. The UK is also facing an ECJ case over claims that it has not implemented the Landfill Directive for the whole country, notably in Northern Ireland.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
RESEARCHERS in Ireland have developed a system that allows farmers to remotely monitor the temperature of cattle using a mobile phone. The Grange Research Centre, part of the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc), have recently completed tests using an electronic bolus (a kind of pill) placed in the cow’s rumen, (one of its stomachs).…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
THE EUROPEAN Union is reassessing its so-far negative position on individual sheep tagging, says the Irish Farmers’ Association. Brussels has maintained that individual tagging is not practical, but association sheep committee chairman, Laurence Fallon claims that the Commission is having a “major reassessment” of its position.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
SMALL shops in Ireland are losing Euros 450 (Pounds 300) worth of shopping baskets every month on average, following the introduction of a Euro 15 cent (10p) environmental levy on plastic carrier bags, according to an Irish small retailers group.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
THE IRISH GOVERNMENT is about to launch a pig-tracing system to help prevent the spread of Aujeszky’s disease.

All pigs travelling to abattoirs will be identified with a slap mark and will be tagged during all other movements, under the National Pig Identification and Tracing System (NPITS).…