An appeal has been made to the public to take special care to prevent forest fires because the recent dry spell has created ideal conditions for outbreaks. Nearly 2,500 acres of forestry are lost to fires each year because of carelessness, according to Teagasc agriculture development authority, which issued the warning.
Mr Stephen Meyen, forestry adviser with Teagasc, said the current dry spell had greatly increased the risk of forest fires. Fire danger is increased when there is a lot of vegetation and brushwood in the forest, combined with low relative air humidity, high air temperatures and wind speed, he said.
"Extreme care should be taken with cigarettes, matches, barbecues, picnics or glass in forests. It is important to stress that anyone who is suspected of starting a forest fire, even unintentionally, is liable for prosecution," he warned.
The dry spell is expected to continue until early next week.
Aer Rianta to stop Shannon pollution
Aer Rianta yesterday has moved to bring to an end its continuing pollution of the Shannon estuary arising from raw sewage discharges from Shannon airport's €35 million terminal building.
This follows the company giving official notice that it is lodging plans for a €2.4 million sewage treatment plant for the airport and seeking a licence for the treated effluent that will be discharged.
A report by the Environmental Protection Agency found Aer Rianta was pumping more than 100,000 cubic metres of raw sewage a year into the estuary.
Aer Rianta has published a notice that it is to construct a sewage treatment facility that would offer secondary treatment at Dernish Island, a short distance from the airport.
Aer Rianta also appeared for the first time in court on pollution charges.
Shannon Regional Fisheries Board (SRFB) has served summons under the Local Government Water Pollution and Fisheries Acts on Aer Rianta in relation to discharges into the estuary from the terminal at Shannon airport.The case was adjourned for a special sitting of Tulla District Court on April 24th.
Edmund Rice canonisation work
A Cork-born Christian Brother will move to Rome shortly to work full time on the promotion of the cause for the canonisation of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice.
Edmund Rice was born in Westcourt, Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1762. He founded the Congregation of Christian Brothers in Waterford in 1802 in order to provide quality education to the materially poor.
Br Donal Blake (61), of Doneraile, Co Cork, has been assigned Postulator of the Founder's Case for Canonisation. He will work towards the canonisation of Rice from his base in Italy.
The former headmaster at Lismore Christian Brothers' College in Waterford is the author of a biography of Rice titled A Man in Our Time. Pope John Paul II beatified Rice in 1996.
Waterford nurses defer protest
Some 106 nurses at St Patrick's Hospital in Waterford yesterday deferred a planned lunchtime protest which was to have been followed by a work-to-rule in all wards of the hospital.
Management at the hospital - which caters for more than 120 mainly older and infirm patients - told nurses that no funding has been received for additional staff at the facility.
Located on John's Hill in Waterford, St Patrick's includes four respite, 22 rehabilitation and 95 long-stay beds. Industrial action planned for October 2002 was also deferred pending the budgetary allocation for the current year, and nurses were due to meet late yesterday to discuss their options.