Search Results for: Ireland

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH local towns and cities have been highlighted as not complying with the European Union’s (EU) 1991 urban wastewater directive, which insists that sewage receives secondary treatment before being discharged into rivers and the sea. Sending the UK a legal final warning letter threatening action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Commission named 15 UK urban areas with populations exceeding 15,000 who are covered by the directive, but whose sewage systems are legally too poor.…

IRELAND’S Celtic Tiger economy may have lost a little of its bounce recently, with double-digit annual growth figures no longer predicted. However, the beast is still in fine fettle, as a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) observer report notes: "The economy has bounced back.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has censured Ireland for failing over many years to communicate crucial fishing data by computer to the European Commission. Judges said that by delaying until this year the installation of computer data equipment that was supposed to be in place by 1999, Ireland had "failed to fulfil its obligations" under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL governments are often jealous of attempts by the European Union (EU) to increase its power into policy areas that they consider none of its business. Defence and foreign affairs are obvious examples, but health is another. EU member states have long resisted Brussels’ calls for influence over their health policies, but their resolve has weakened of late.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INCREASED compensation of up to US$1.152 billion for damage caused by serious oil spills will be made available from March 3 next year, when an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund comes into being. This follows the ratification of its founding protocol by Spain, fulfilling the minimum number of major oil importing states required for the formal creation of this International Maritime Organisation (IMO)-coordinated fund.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH, French and Spanish governments have come under increased political pressure to improve their conservation of fishing stocks and monitoring of illicit catches through rulings from the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Judges backed claims from the European Commission that Spain had failed to stage inspections of fishing vessels as mandated by European Union (EU) legislation, had not prevented fishing after quotas had been exhausted, and not taken “penal or administrative measures against anyone for breaking these limits”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ECSTASY has become Britain’s number two illicit drug, overtaking amphetamines, warns a new European Union (EU) narcotics report alerting public health professional across Europe to increasing abuse of most recreational drugs. The best news highlighted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is that heroin use and new HIV infections are falling in western Europe, although they are increasing in many eastern European countries, such as the Baltic States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EAT your greens! Children may not like them, but they are healthy. But, what about those pesticide residues?….What is the risk of chronic poisoning these young delicate bodies? How can the risk of not eating vegetables be balanced against dangers faced from contaminants and pollutants?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH government has come under increased political pressure to improve its conservation of fishing stocks and monitoring of illicit catches through a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Judges backed claims from the European Commission that Dublin had been breaking European Union (EU) laws by:

*Failing to agree detailed guidelines on exploiting its allocated fishing quotas;

*Not adequately monitoring fishing boats, inspecting landings and recording catches;

*Allowing fishing boats to continue working when their quotas are exhausted; and

*Not launching administrative or criminal proceedings against vessel masters breaking fishing regulations.…

Keith Nuthall
SPANISH national carrier Iberia has warned it may formally complain at the European Commission about alleged illegal state aid from Spain’s regional governments to Ireland’s Ryanair. Iberia chief executive Angel Mullor said his company was “gathering information” on subsidies helping Ryanair operate at regional airports, such as Santander, northern Spain, and Girona, Catalonia.…