EPA threatens Legal Action over Sewerage

Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promised to take legal action against the country's local authorities, unless there is an improvement in the operation and monitoring of sewerage works.

The EPA's latest report focuses on waste water discharges from Ireland's cities and towns during 2006 and 2007.

Of the 192 treatment plants tested, 51% did not meet EU standards because "they were not operating properly or were overloaded".

At least 20 areas in Ireland do not have secondary treatment, which means effluent is being released into the sea.

These include Bray in Co. Wicklow, Clifden in Co. Galway, Killybegs in Co. Donegal and Kinsale in Co. Cork.

EPA enforcement officer Dara Lynott stated that new licensing powers will result in enforcement action, including prosecutions, being taken against failing local authorities.

Environment Minister John Gormley (right) said it was "quite unacceptable" that a quarter of non-compliance levels can be attributed to the insufficient levels of sampling by the local authorities.

Local authority officials are among the best-paid people in Ireland, and their jobs are among the safest in the country. But it appears that they are either unwilling or unable to do their jobs properly. One of the main reasons for that is the still rampant nepotism that rules Ireland. People are appointed to positions or given certain jobs not on the basis of their qualifications and skills, but on the basis of their personal connections. Often membership of a political party or family ties play a role as well.
The result is widespread sloppiness, shoddy workmanship and carelessness in many areas. Combined with the general lazy and laid-back attitude of many Irish people, it creates a climate of incompetence and mismanagement.

So the threat of legal action from the EPA is a step in the right direction that will - hopefully - wake up the sleeping local councillors and their officials. However, there is one little flaw in the concept: If a local authority would be found guilty of breaking EU regulations or having acted negligant, the worst that can happen to it is a fine. No council official will go to prison for water pollution.
And who do you think will provide the money to pay the fine? Yes - you guessed correctly: We, the taxpayers and ratepayers will foot the bill.

As much as I welcome the more forceful approach of the EPA, I think that the agency needs a lot more powers. Only then will it be taken for serious by local authorities who need to get their houses in order and their sewage systems and treatment plants working properly and according to EU regulations.

The Emerald Islander

The Samba is over

It is a cold and unfriendly morning in December, just after breakfast time. Gaspar Arcanjo de Lima (photo above) - a 49-year-old Brazilian - leaves his home and walks the short distance to the town square to look for casual work. He does this six times a week - every day but Sunday - and the local people are well used to seeing him there.
"I used to get work three or four days each week here," he says, looking serious. "But if I get one day a week now, it's a lot."
Gaspar is not the only one offering himself for hire in the central urban spot of this small rural community. Each weekday more than a dozen men - aged between early twenties and early fifties - gather there in the morning and hope that someone in town, or perhaps a local farmer from the surrounding area, needs an extra pair of hands for a day or two.

However, Gaspar and the other men are not standing on a town square in Brazil. They are standing in Gort, a rural Irish market town in the southern part of Co. Galway, not far from the border with Co. Clare.

Even though rather small and of no great importance these days, Gort is a place with a long history that goes back to Guaire Aidhneach, the sixth century King of Connacht, who had a reputation for generosity. The lore has it that his right arm, the giving arm, was longer than his left.
One legend tells the story how King Guaire was sitting down for dinner when mysteriously the plates with the food disappeared out the windows. He quickly followed them on horseback and soon met St. Colman, a pious monk who had just finished a seven-year fast and was so in need of sustenance that the King's food literally flew to him, so he could eat. King Guaire was impressed by Colman and granted him lands at Kilmacduagh, where he built a famous monastery (photo above), which is one of the oldest in Europe.

The town's modern Irish name An Gort (the meadow) is only used in official documents, while the locals still refer to their town as Gort Inse Guaire, thus keeping in touch with the distant past and King Guaire.

In the Middle Ages the Ó Seachnasaigh (O'Shaughnessys), chiefs of Cinél Aedha na hEchtghe (a clan descended from Guaire Aidhneach), had their principal stronghold in Gort.

At the end of the seventeenth century all the O'Shaughnessy lands were confiscated by the English crown and later granted as a favour to Sir Thomas Prendergast, whose grandson was John Prendergast-Smyth, the first Viscount Gort.

The best-known member of that family was Field Marshal Lord Gort, VC (pictured here on the left with the famous US Lieut. General George S. Patton in North Africa).
During World War I this distinguished Anglo-Irish officer won the Victoria Cross (VC) - Britain's highest gallantry award - as well as three times the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Military Cross (MC).
Between the wars he rose to the Army's top position - Chief of the Imperial General Staff - and in 1939 he was commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Forces in France. Later in World War II he also served as the Governor of Malta and High Commissioner for Palestine & Transjordan.

Another resident of the area was Lady Augusta Gregory, the famous dramatist, co-founder of Dublin's Abbey Theatre and close friend of William Butler Yeats. She lived at Coole Park, only a short distance away from Gort.

The O'Shaughnessy's old stronghold in Gort was turned into an English cavalry barracks, which was used by troops until modern times.
In 1831 the market town had 563 houses and a total population of 3627. But then the Great Famine of the mid 1840s set in and devastated the population and future of Gort, as it did with so many towns in the west of Ireland.

After many decades of a sleepy existence, Gort has grown by nearly 50% in recent years and has now about 3000 inhabitants. But it was not an influx of Irish people that made Gort almost a little boom town, it was a large number of Brazilians that arrived and settled here since 1999.

What attracted them to Ireland and to Gort especially?

Well, the unexpected economic boom - known as the 'Celtic Tiger' - that started under the 'Rainbow coalition' government in the mid-1990s created more jobs in Ireland than could be filled by Irish workers. Many unfilled vacancies began to attract foreign workers.
While the vast majority of migrant labourers came from eastern Europe and especially Poland, there were also many from further abroad, including plenty from Brazil.

There are long-established links between the Irish meat industry and the producers of beef in South America, especially in Argentina and Brazil.
Vacancies in booming Irish abattoirs and meat processing plants, which are the predominant business in and around Gort, soon attracted the first Brazilians to southern Galway. They sent happy letters - and plenty of money - home to their families, and thus ever more of their fellow countrymen arrived.

Meanwhile more than a third of the whole population of Gort is Brazilian. This has of course changed the life in the sleepy little market town in many ways. Sunday Mass in the local Catholic church is now said not only in English, but also in Portuguese.

There are special Brazilian shops, restaurants and services in Gort, including a food store, a hair dresser and a money transfer office. The latter provides the Brazilians in Ireland with a vital link to their homeland and families, many of which depend entirely on money sent from Ireland. (It is amazing how things can change, as until not so long ago many Irish families lived on money they were sent by a relative working in the UK, the USA or Australia.)

There is now also a strong Brazilian element in Gort's school, and in every other aspect of the local community and culture.

Surprisingly no incidents or cases of racism or xenophobia have been reported, which proofs that even a rural community can absorb a large amount of strangers, as long as they are peaceful, able to work and willing to integrate themselves as much as it is possible.

Overall the new residents of Gort are well integrated. Many of them live in comfortable new homes, built during the economic boom. They are more modern than those they could afford back home in Brazil, and even more modern than the houses of most Irish residents of Gort.

But there seems to be no envy or animosity. The Brazilians were welcomed by the locals as friendly, warm-hearted people who are as Catholic and easy-going as they are themselves.
The local St. Patrick's Day parade has probably benefited the most from the South American influence and is now quite close to the carnival parade of a Samba school in Brazil. In fact, it has been said that Gort has meanwhile some of the best Samba dancers in the whole of Ireland.

But despite the positive example of integration, all is not well in Gort a week before Christmas. Like everywhere in Ireland, the boom times are over in Gort, too.
A fall in people's buying power has led to a reduction of production and the loss of many jobs. And the rule in Gort is not different from elsewhere: Last in - first out. There is now a great shortage of jobs, in Galway and Ireland as a whole, with plenty of Irish and foreign workers on the dole.

For the Brazilians in Gort things are especially difficult. When they came here, they thought to have found their little piece of paradise, where they could stay and work, earn good money and live a life in happiness and comfort, perhaps forever.
For most of the past five or six years work has indeed been plentiful and there was everything else one could only dream of in Brazil. Some of the workers even brought their wife and family to Ireland, while most were sending money to their families at home. They still do, but now things have changed and the money transfers are less frequent.

Simonsen Miller Silva (above right), who runs Gort's Brazilian-owned money transfer service, knows exactly what the downturn is costing his community.
"People send anything from € 350 to € 650 back home," he says. "That is the same as ever. They are just doing it less often."

Most of the Brazilians still send money about three times a month. "For many," the transfer agent explains, "it is a commitment. They have to provide for their family, to pay for schooling or for healthcare."

"Four years ago it was a lot easier to find a job and to send money home," says Miro Pires (photo left), who transfers up to € 1000 from Ireland to Brazil every 40 days.
"Now I wait until the exchange rate reaches at least three Reals before I send anything. Although it's harder now, I'm going to wait at least another year before going back. The situation is difficult now everywhere."

The good news for Miro is that despite our recession the Euro is still gaining in value. Yesterday it stood at more than 3.40 Reals, which means that his family in Brazil will have a very happy Christmas with the money from Ireland.

26-year-old Raquel Samuels (above top left), one of the many Brazilian women who followed the male workers to Gort, is co-owner of Real Brazil, one of the Brazilian shops in town.
Amid piles of cassava beans, sugary sweets and many other kinds of imported food she sits with mixed feelings and hopes the Brazilians can tough out Ireland's recession.
"This town would be like a ghost town, without the Brazilians being here," she says with amazing frankness. "Many Irish are like sticks in the mud."

During the boom times jobs in cleaning, cooking, catering and shop work were easy to find for Brazilian women, even if their English was often poor. The newly rich Irish did not care, as long as the work was done. No one was hiring a cook or cleaner for conversational skills.
But now fewer Irish families employ home helpers or cooks. It is one of the first luxuries people let go when the money gets tight for them. So many Brazilian women - who do not stand in the town square seeking work like the men - are finding jobs and cash ever harder to come by.

Some of the women have left Gort already, with the intention to return to Brazil. But rumour has it that at least some of them only went as far as Dublin and are now working there in the growing lap dance and sex industry.

At Gort's Brazilian hair salon (left) fewer customers are now styled, but there is still plenty of gossip.
"It's really very difficult for everyone now, so people take whatever work they can get," says Simone Bueno Marques, the 30-year-old hairdresser who runs the salon.
Although her husband and two children live with her in Ireland now, she still sends € 700 each month to Brazil, to support her mother and pay for a house.
"It's a little bit of a problem," she admits. "Sometimes I miss Brazil, but I don't want to go back - not yet, anyway."
Once her Brazilian house is paid for, she might change her mind, especially if Ireland is then still in recession.

27-year-old Sandro Santana Mendes (photo right) tells me that he "enjoyed the good times in Ireland". But he has bought a ticket and will go home for Christmas. He has not seen his four-year-old son for three years.
"I've been in Europe seven years now," he explains. "I liked it, but it is not a place to stay forever. Too cold for me, and I don't mean only the climate."
Then he shows me a large brown envelope filled with banknotes.
"I have € 2000," he says with a smile. "That's enough to live for a whole year in Anapolis [his home town in Brazil]."

Others are preparing to leave Gort and Ireland as well. To go home for Christmas is the main reason, but some are already sure that they will not be back in January.

"I've been very happy here. It's been good," says Joao Luis da Silva Costa (left, watching TV with his son in his house in Gort), another 27-year-old Brazilian meat-plant worker who is preparing to leave.
"But I'm not earning enough money any more in Ireland, so I'm going home. I've done my time. It's enough."

In the town square the mood is mixed this morning. Few Galway farmers have turned up, looking for handymen, and most of the Brazilians look gloomy in the cold.
Gaspar Arcanjo de Lima was lucky and has found work. But his companion Antonio Galdecio da Silva (photo below right) has not. Eventually he calls it a day just before noon.

"I come here every day, looking for work," he says. "But I've not sent any money home for three months."
Antonio is 50 and tells me about his hard and eventful life. Back in Brazil he has no less than eleven children, and was hoping to bring some of them to Ireland for better education and jobs.
But that was during the good times. He is realistic enough to see that Ireland is no longer a place that could offer a future to him or his children. "Now I'm just trying to work enough to buy myself a ticket home," he says with a sigh and leaves the square with some of his compatriots.

It appears that for Gort in Co. Galway the Samba days are over.

The Emerald Islander

Three missing Fishermen found safe and well

Three fishermen, who had been missing at sea and were the subjects of a major search and rescue operation off the west coast of Ireland, have been found alive, safe and well.

Their boat - the 14 m long timber-hulled Bainrion na dTonn - was spotted about 50 miles west of Slyne Head in Co. Galway at around lunchtime today and has meanwhile returned to Rossaveal Harbour.

It has emerged that the fishing vessel got into difficulty when it developed a problem with its fuel system. The engine stopped and subsequently the boat drifted out into the Atlantic without power for more than 24 hours.

The crew eventually succeeded in repairing the technical fault and had restarted the engine shortly before they were located by a Coast Guard helicopter and a fixed-wing reconnaissance aircraft of the Irish Aer Corps.

The alarm was raised and search operations were launched after the trawler and its three crewmen failed to arrive - as it had been expected - in the small port of Rossaveal (photo) in Co. Galway a number of days ago.
Nothing had been heard from the vessel and her crew since they left the port of Killybegs in Co. Donegal on Wednesday, and no contact could be established with them from shore.

Two Coast Guard helicopters, based in Sligo and Shannon, an Aer Corps CASA aircraft from Baldonnel, the Clifden lifeboat, six Coast Guard units and a number of trawlers took part in the search.

The skipper and owner of the boat is an experienced fisherman who comes originally from Co. Kildare, but has lived and worked in both Donegal and Rossaveal for several years. He has purchased the Bainrion na dTonn only recently.

I am glad to share this rare bit of good news with you tonight. For many years we have lost Irish fishing vessels and their crews, and most of these tragedies happen during the winter months, when the weather around here is rough and tough, and nowhere more than at sea.

My special thanks go our Coast Guard for their tireless search operation, and to the Aer Corps for their professional support. As much as I have been critical a few days ago, as much I do acknowledge that they are both doing a great job in coastal and inshore waters. This case is a typical example for a well organised and executed search, which was successful and ended happily with no-one being lost or hurt.

I also like to point out the courage, stamina, skills and endurance of the crew of the Bainrion na dTonn. The three men had a tough time out there, and a very difficult task to perform. They succeeded, and are to be congratulated.
But anyone who has ever experienced a vessel in distress with engine trouble, a ship or boat that is unable to manoeuvre and left to the natural drift of the ocean, will share my special feelings of empathy with the three fishermen.

May they be save in future as they are tonight, and may their further sailings be happy, successful and without troubles.

The Emerald Islander

Arson Attacks on Garda Stations

A Garda station in southern Connemara was extensively damaged in a suspected arson attack. The fire at Carna Garda station (photo left) in Co. Galway broke out at around 10 p.m. last night.
About two weeks ago windows of the same station had been smashed during the night, but no further damage was done at that time. There were also some other acts of vandalism reported in the area in recent weeks.

Only five days ago the Garda station of Blarney (photo right) in Co. Cork was also badly damaged by another fire.
Gardaí are now attempting to establish a motive for both attacks, but it is not suspected that they are connected.

Arson attacks on Garda stations are fortunately not occurring frequently in Ireland, but there has been a considerable number of such crimes in recent years.

Last year, on March 22nd, 2007, an arson attack was made on the Garda station at Bandon, in the west of Co. Cork. A man walked into the public office of the station at 11 p.m. with a petrol bomb. The spreading fire was quickly extinguished by Gardaí, but there was smoke damage to the floor and walls. A person who had been in the foyer during the attack was treated in hospital as a precaution.

Three years ago the Garda station in Littleton, Co. Tipperary was target of not one but two arson attcks within the short span of 13 weeks. The first took place on July 25th, 2005 and - just as the station had been repaired and refurbished again - a second occurred on November 2nd, 2005.

Six weeks before the first attack at Littleton, in the morning of June 14th, 2005, five petrol bombs were thrown at Blackrock Garda station in Cork city. Two Gardaí, who were in the station at the time, managed to extinguish the fires. There were no injuries and - apart fom burn marks on the outer walls (photo above) - no damage was done to the building.

On May 3rd, 2004 the Garda station at Carrigbyrne in Co. Wexford was extensively damaged by another serious act of arson.

In the night to Saturday, May 31st, 2003 a 19-year-old woman started at fire at Tallaght Garda station on the outskirts of Dublin.

On February 28th, 2002 a 28-year-old alcoholic from Finglas walked into Ballymun Garda station in Dublin, claiming his brother was missing. He then poured petrol, which he had with him, on the floor of the station's public area and set it alight. The Garda in charge on the night reacted quickly and put the fire out himself, so only € 1000 damage was done in this attack. The man was arrested and on June 19th, 2003 sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The most serious arson attack on Gardaí took place on Wednesday, July 21st, 1999 at Tallaght Garda station. A man entered the station at around a quarter to five in the morning, carrying petrol and some flares. He went into the public office, where the Sergeant and several other Gardaí were on duty, and set it on fire. Then he escaped in a white Ford Sierra car. Extensive damage was done to the station and tragically Sergeant Andrew Callanan, a 36-year-old married man and father of three small children, died from severe burns later in hospital. Several other Gardaí were injured in this outrageous attack.

On April 19th, 1999 another Garda station, this time in Edenderry, Co. Offaly, was set alight in the early hours of the morning. The Sergeant's office was completely gutted and some damage was done to the public office. A Garda patrol car, which was parked at the rear of the station, was burnt-out in the blaze (photo above right), while a second car, owned by a civilian, was also partially damaged.

One wonders why Garda stations around the country are not better protected against such attacks. But then again, many of the stations that suffered arson attacks are in rural areas and not manned around the clock. There is only a Garda present for several hours a day, but never at night. And some smaller rural stations are entirely unattended by now. All they provide for the public is an intercom connection to the next manned station, which is often many miles away.

As a historian I can only reflect on the lessons one can learn about this from history. Whenever the State withdraws its visible presence - which is usually the police - from a local community, it leads to two things: Alienation of people from the State and reduction of their respect for government and authorities; and an increase in crime, vandalism and unsavoury behaviour.

Maybe it is time for the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern (photo above left) and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy (photo right) to have a closer look at their general strategic policing principles and in particular at the deployment pattern of the Garda Síochána around the country.

The Emerald Islander

More Rain and Floods in Cork and Munster

Met Éireann, Ireland's meteorological office, has warned once again of a risk of flooding, following heavy rain fall last night and today.

Further rain falls of between 25mm and 50mm are predicted, with Connacht and Munster most likely to be affected.

Meanwhile Gardaí in Cork said that traffic is now back to normal, after delays had been caused by heavy surface flooding in the city (photo). A number of road closures were put in place across the city and there were various cases of flooding also in Co. Cork.

Continuing heavy rain has also left thousands of acres of farmland in the West of Ireland flooded.

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) says that this year's barley harvest is particularly at risk, but dairy farmers are also running out of pasture land, much of which is now under water.

An IFA spokesman said that farmers in East Galway and in the Shannon basin are among the worst affected, while there is also flooding in the Oranmore and Headford area of the county.

Conditions are described as 'unbelievably bad' and among the worst many farmers have experienced in living memory.