Friends of the Earth has welcomed the Minister of the Environment's statement that "incineration is no longer the cornerstone of Irish waste management policy". The environmental pressure group has long championed Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) which the Minister now says will become a key element of waste management. Friends of the Earth Director Oisin Coghlan described the decision to prevent local authorities guaranteeing a certain level of waste to incinerator operators as "a step in the right direction".

In a statement, the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) has condemned as an outrageous act of censorship the decision of Justice Minister, Brian Lenihan, to ban Lebanese Journalist, Ibrahim Moussawi,from entering Ireland to attend conferences in Dublin and Galway this weekend.

You would have to wonder if the Nobel Peace Prize deciders have their collective
heads up their bottoms,when they can award Al Gore for his "work" in hyping up the
global warming myth.

Circus Watch Ireland and the Alliance for Animal Rights today hailed last night's decision by Fingal County Council to ban circuses using wild animal acts from public lands in the council area as ‘a milestone' in the campaign for an end to cruelty to circus animals.

The results of the ISME's third quarterly business trends survey confirm that business confidence among SMEs has plummeted to a four year low with a large percentage of smaller companies less optimistic about business prospects in comparison to previous quarters. Economic uncertainty can be identified as the primary factor behind the sharp decline in optimism. However, business is confident in its own ability to deliver with many companies still planning to increase employment and investment over the next 12 months in spite of the current concerns.

I have read that the feet of the protesting Burmese Buddhist monks were bruised and bloodied after several days of marching.

Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance has welcomed Dun Laoghaire Rathdown-County Councils' decision to refuse planning permission to developer Noel Smyth for an 8-storey apartment block on the site of a car park used by St Michael's hospital. He said the decision was a “victory for people power and the campaign launched by the People Before Profit Alliance to protect the hospital”

Given the downturn in the construction and financial sector and the increased competition from China and India in the manufacturing sector, it is widely recognized that the best way forward for the Irish economy is via knowledge-intensive, high value-added activities.

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin was reported recently as calling for parents not to “opt out” of integrated education by seeking to put their children in schools that did not have a broad ethnic mix. No doubt he's sincere. The problem is that the patronage system for the provision of primary schools in this country, so well used by the archbishop's own church, is inherently segregationist.

There is something rotten in the state of Ireland. And where it is easy to associate the sinister activity of misremembering ones financial affairs with that fallen Danish king the rotten core is far more apparent than our leader's blustering fallaciousness. We, the Irish citizens, have lost our way.