Planning & Environment

The horrible summers of 2007 and 2008 are insufficient as yet to say that climate change is upon us. But global warming is incontrovertibe, say meteorologists, and  climate change will happen. By Malachy Browne

It has been known for decades that the curtailment of speed on the roads was an essential prerequisite for reducing the death toll on the roads. It was further appreciated for decades that without the introduction of speed cameras this could not be done effectively. Now decades later, it is still apparent that speed cameras are not available and will not be available for quite some time.

The methodology used by the OPW to conserve the monastic hermitage on Skellig Michael has been the source of controversy in archaeological circles for more than a decade. But the truth contained in a UNESCO study released last month has been clouded in spin. By Siobhán Tanner

Bloggers at the website Jazzbiscuit.com have recorded a video documenting the hazards of new roadside advertising hoarding erected by Dublin City Council and JC Decaux. According to the footage, the Dublin Transportation Office has called the advertising a "traffic hazard". The advertising was erected on pedestrian walkways and traffic islands in several locations around Dublin. As the video shows, some of the advertising structures obscure traffic lights and crossing pedestrians from the view of oncoming traffic.

An archaeologist who worked for the National Roads Authority (NRA) on the M3 Tara motorway carrying out archaeological testing, has said that they edited her reports, she was not allowed to tell the truth and “was told to change an interpretation, which served to lessen the protection or number of sites”.

The proposed development of the Jury's/Berkeley Court site in Ballsbridge with a 37 storey tower and a clutter of eight 18 storey blocks has proved contentious. Village presents two contrasting views:

The following is a diary of incidents that occurred in one estate in Moyross during the intense period of violence in mid- to late-2006 as recorded by a resident who spoke to Village.

Fr Joe Young describes Southill not as a disadvantaged community, but an “abandoned” community. That abandonment is palpable as one walks thorough O'Malley Park and Keyes Park. Unlike Moyross, there is a disturbing stillness to O'Malley Park where community life once thrived. A vast empty gulf separates the densely clustered houses from the main thoroughfare of the Roxboro Road. Few people venture outdoors casually and there are no amenities. Drugs are openly dealt from houses. One resident said that kids have two choices; stay indooors or join in anti-social behaviour.

In his 2007 report on social exclusion in Southill and Moyross in Limerick, John Fitzgerald is unequivocal in his recommendations on policing. He says that dealing with criminality as a matter of urgency is “fundamental to creating the conditions for other interventions (infrastructural, economic, educational and social) to be successful, and for restoring the confidence of local communities”.

A quarter of a century's neglect, underlined by the government's failure to act on the RAPID reports of 2001, has devastated Moyross and Southill in Limerick.

By Malachy Browne