Representatives of Irish environmental NGOs are in Johannesburg countering the government glossover of the serious social and environmental costs of the Celtic Tiger. Under the banner of Earth Summit Ireland groups ranging from An Taisce and Coastwatch to Friends of the Irish Environment and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council have produced a comprehensive report highlighting a wide range of deeply unsustainable practices occuring in Ireland.

'Telling it like it is - 10 years of unsustainable development in Ireland', uses 34 stories of unsustainable practices in Ireland as examples of how the government has paid only lip service to the main international environmental treaties that it has signed. Since Ireland is held up internationally as a model of development through the pursuit of globalisation and neo-liberal policies, this report is globally important to show the international community that the Celtic Tiger has not been cost-free.

The report describes how Ireland is burning its last remaining boglands at a rate of 1,500 ha per year to put even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Another story highlights the mercuric soap factory that was expelled from Britain for poisoning its workers, which sells a toxic and illegal product to Africa - and that got £750,000 from the IDA. There's an overview of how local authorities in Galway ignored over half of the 3,266 submissions received about a controversial road project because they were deemed to be 'in the wrong envelopes' and of the Aghafad 'pig production unit' in which 100,000 pigs are crammed onto a 40 acre site in a factory 'farm' of horrific suffering and vast pollution? Other stories contrast the obsession with road building with the decay of public transportation, the continued favouring of landfill over recycling, and how Ireland is ignoring its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development is taking place in Johannesburg from August 26 to September 4. It is a follow-up to the Rio Earth Summit held 10 years ago which produced many aspirational statements but little real action. It is becoming clearer to NGOs, activists and those concerned with global environmental destruction and social inequality that the problem lies in the almost complete absence of political will. This lack of will to introduce change in the direction of sustainability is particularly probounced in Ireland where companies, local authorities and successive governments seem content to pass on the huge costs of overconsumption to future generations.

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Download the Earth Summit Ireland report

From an Irish Citizen involved in the No to Nice Referendum Campaign

First I have to say that many of us here on this Island heard the EZLN when, at the beginning of 1994 they pointed out to the world that the third world war had ended and that the fourth world war had begun. We are celebrating today the victory of Mexican farmers and Civil Society in their recent conflict with the Mexican Government. We cried when we heard of the death of one brother at the hands of the Mexican State but take courage from what we have heard of the resistance to the state coming from people of all ages and genders. It gives all of us who struggle for Justice and Dignity everywhere a feeling that it is possible to struggle and to win small battles in this WW 4.

This war is happening everywhere including Ireland. The Irish government is at present using draconian new laws to move Indigenous Irish Travellers from anywhere that they attempt to camp. They are the Irish equivalent to the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico and they are being described openly by members of the establishment in Ireland as 'Terrorists'. They, unlike the EZLN, have never taken up arms to fight for Justice, Peace and Dignity. They have done nothing except live their lives as their ancestors have for generations. They are a nomadic people. Just today I read of 30 families who had moved their caravans to an unused portion of land near the city of Dublin (our capital) being driven from this land by the Irish Police.

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An Annual event for the past 12 years, the Ecotopia-Biketour takes place in a different region of Europe each year. This year the Celtic-Safari Biketour will bring young people from all over europe to cycle from Dover (England, 10th July) across England and Wales to Dublin and on to Clare. En-Route it will promote grasroots solutions to climate change and sustainable transport. The bike tour is also seeking to link with local campaigns - contact:Britain  Ireland  Bike Tour Site

Ecotopia is a gathering of people from all over Europe, and beyond, who are interested in environmental and social change. Ecotopia 2002 will be a two-week environmental festival taking place in Clare, South West Ireland. The campsite is on the shores of Lough Derg in an 83 acre broadleaf woodland with clearings for camping, dining and workshops. People from all over Ireland and Europe will travel to this beautifully scenic place to take part in workshops, discussion groups, talks and activities covering a wide range of issues.

The theme of this years gathering is Conflict Resolution and thus workshops on this will be held throughout. Many other issues will also be covered.

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Timetable of Ectopia Workshops

Available On Web Now Through Indymedia

After two tribunals, numerous trips to the High Court and a further delay to allow for printing, the Ansbacher Report, detailing suspected tax evasion, illegal banking operations and numerous breaches of company law right up to the 1990s, and pointing the finger at builders, bankers, restaurant owners and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, was finally published. It stretches to ten thousand pages and comes in two large boxes. A CD-ROM version was also made available, at a cost of E25.40.

The vast majority of official reports are now made freely available online, for example the benchmarking report. However, the Director of Corporate Enforcement (Paul Appelby) decided not to publish the report on the Web, due to fears over the State being sued in other jurisdictions for defamation - if this was to happen, it would mean a serious restriction on the freedom of the media and even sovereign Governments to report on controversial issues.

You can read the full report online for free, by clicking here. Some sections to note are the conclusions of the inspectors and of course the infamous "list of names", published on the newswire.

The Dáil has been recalled to discuss the report. None of the people or corporations named in the report have been tried before a court, however the Socialist Workers' Party have called for the Ansbacher Gang to be jailed. The Director of Corporate Enforcement in a press release was not willing to commit to any particular course of legal action, and fears are growing that, as was the case with the Beef Tribunal, no prosecutions will follow. Charles Haughey, the subject of much criticism (1) in the inspector's report (2), had a previous trial suspended when his lawyers argued that the statements of Mary Harney and the SWP contributed to a climate where a fair trial would be impossible. The commercial media have reported on the findings in depth, with many journalists writing that those who are alleged to have evaded tax were innocently "caught up" in the illegal banking scheme run by Ansbacher and Haughey's accountant, the late Des Traynor.

(1) Point 3.11, at page 59
(2) Appendix 54

Read the report now!

Last Sunday, the 7th of July, a crowd of 100,000 gathered at the Salthill Air Show. Treated to a display of military prowess billed as the 'greatest free show in Europe', the crowd 'ooh'd' and 'aah'd' as Hercules helicopters, F-15s and a B1 bomber streaked overhead. Defending the air show, The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, who opened proceedings, announced that allowing military aircraft to entertain crowds was not a breach of Irish Neutrality (see Irish Times article). The Galway Anti-War Alliance disagree. They made a loud and vocal protest at the show, airing their contempt for aircraft like the B-1, and pointing out that the price of one B-1 could provide clean water to several thousand villages in the third world (see their press release).

There are allegations that Irish neutrality, which the government claim they are protecting in the current round of Nice treaty negotiations, has been quietly eroded for years now. US military aircraft have been landing in Shannon, refueling, and taking off for the Middle East since the Gulf War (report). Since September 11th the amount of US military traffic coming through Shannon has dramatically increased (reports 1, 2, 3). No longer content with simply refueling they are now carrying out training exercises, something that is mostly unreported in our mainstream news.

The Irish government's claims that these are merely transport aircraft rings false with reported sightings of F-16s and AC-130s landing at the airport. It was an AC-130, which bombed the wedding party in Kandihar last week.

Limerick is several thousand miles from Afghanistan, but it is clear that there are ties between the quiet comings and goings in Shannon and America's 'War on Terror'. Our government is loudly fighting to secure Irish neutrality at the EU summit in Seville, and at the same time quietly breaching our neutrality daily in Shannon.

Related link: Refueling for peace