Environment

Declan’s good hare day

Clean Coasts’ Love Your Coast photography competition winners have been announced, showcasing all the beauty of the Irish coastal landscape, heritage, wildlife and more in 50 beautiful images.

For the past 13 years, the Love Your Coast photography competition has been inviting photographers to capture the uniqueness of our coastal landscape, heritage, wildlife, communities and more, and to submit their best shot across five categories – Coastal Heritage, Coastal Landscape, People & the Coast, Wildlife & the Coast and Creativity and the Coast – for a chance to win prizes from a €5,000 prize fund and plenty of exposure opportunities.

This year, they received over 1,100 entries and the 50 best images were shortlisted and displayed at an event at Smock Alley, Dublin.

Wexford’s Declan Roche with “Hare at Curracloe Beach, Co. Wexford” got the third place prize in the Wildlife and Underwater Category, taken on Curracloe Beach with a Nikon D500 camera and Nikon 200mm-500mm lens.

Declan commented: “As a regular visitor to Curracloe and The Raven Nature Reserve, I happened to be on the beach at the southern end of the Raven Forest on this particular morning photographing some seabirds. I got a great surprise when I looked around and spotted this Hare was also on the beach enjoying the peace and quiet.” Moreover, Wexford was also well represented by "Bringing Home the Dinner” by Sarah Ryan and “Underwater Birds” by Ivan Donoghue, both captured at Saltee Islands, and “Male Leafcutter Bee” by Pat Somers taken in the Raven Forest, Curracloe – all shortlisted in the top ten images for the Wildlife and the Coast category.

Working with communities on the ground, Clean Coasts’ mission is to help foster pride in our coastline, supporting Clean Coasts communities, groups, and volunteers to tackle issues affecting their local area. This competition provides an opportunity to view the coast and our waterways that the Clean Coasts programme works to protect from a completely different perspective and see the beauty captured therein.

Coastal Communities Manager Sinead McCoy said: “We were delighted to be able to celebrate in person again both the beauty of the Irish coast and the talent of the photographers who entered our competition, after a two-year break.

“Over the last 13 years, the competition has been very successful and very well received. For Clean Coasts, this is more than just a photography competition: we are an island nation, and our coast and marine environment are incredibly important to us. Clean Coasts has over 1,800 volunteer groups who are doing amazing work when it comes to managing and protecting our marine environment, so these photographs are a way for everybody to appreciate and celebrate our coast and be inspired to get involved too.” n Four Co. Wexford photographers made it into the top ten in the Wildlife and Underwater category of the annual LOVE YOUR COAST PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION. Declan Roche, no stranger to success in this and other competitions, placed third for his ‘Hare at Curracloe Beach’. Also in the top ten were: Sarah Ryan, ‘Bringing Home the Dinner’, Saltee Islands. Pat Somers, ‘Male Leafcutter Bee’, Raven Forest, Curracloe. Ivan Donoghue, ‘Underwater Birds’, Saltee Islands. Well done to all. n

Slaney envIROnment Government support available

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY SOUTH WEXFORD TORNADO...

In the aftermath of the tornado and other severe weather conditions that affected south Wexford in early November, Cathaoirleach of the Rosslare Municipal District Lisa McDonald called for the government to immediately intervene and provide support for those affected particularly in the Clongeen/ Foulksmills area.

"I visited many of those affected in the area... and witnessed first hand the devastation that has been caused," Cllr. McDonald said. "Homes and businesses have been ripped apart by this freak event, with hundreds of thousands of euro worth of damage done." "In the aftermath of the Christmas Day flooding in Bridgetown and surrounding areas, we saw several schemes opened to support those affected. Government and in particular Ministers O'Brien, Humphreys and Varadkar must act immediately to provide similar support for these people." "They will also need to show flexibility in some of these cases which may not be covered by the existing schemes. A lot of the red tape that goes into said schemes can and should be removed."

"These schemes were initially designed to cover flooding and as we see in an increase in the variety of extreme weather events it is clear that they need to be amended by the government." "I am available to help anyone who has been affected," McDonald concluded.

Following calls from Cllr McDonald and many others for assistance, Minister James Browne TD secured government approval for County Wexford residents affected by flooding and severe weather events since Thursday 3rd November to apply for humanitarian assistance.

Minister Browne said the scheme aims to prevent hardship by providing incometested financial support to people whose homes are damaged from flooding and severe weather events and who are not able to meet costs through insurance or

Cllr Lida McDonald, Cathaoirleach of the Rosslare Municipal District. Some of the devastation caused in the Clongeen/Foulksmills area.

otherwise for essential needs, household items and structural repair. “Having spoken with families and locals in north and south Wexford regarding the impact of flooding and severe weather events to their homes, I immediately spoke with government colleagues regarding the need for financial assistance. I can now confirm that my colleague, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys TD, will open the humanitarian assistance scheme. Administered by Department of Social Protection Community Welfare Officers in County Wexford, this scheme will now accept means-tested applications. Any essential needs, household items and structural repair required following flooding and severe weather events, which are not covered through insurance, will be considered as part of the Community Welfare Officers’ assessments.

“I encourage any constituent who requires assistance with the application to contact me by phoning 053 9235046 or emailing JamesBrowneTD@oir.ie”, Minister Browne concluded. n

Enniscorthy Tidy Towns Awards 2022

The annual awards night was held on 29th November in the IFA Centre, Enniscorthy

The annual Enniscorthy Tidy Towns Awards night 2022 was held on 29th November in the IFA Centre, Enniscorthy, with speakers on the night –Sean Doyle and Billy Murphy. Billy Murphy thanked CE Scheme workers, the Council outdoor staff, the Tidy Towns volunteers, and remembered the late John Byrne RIP who had a huge positive influence on the town’s appearance; Billy extended the committee’s sympathy to John’s family. Speaking about the national Tidy Towns competition, Billy pointed out that in three out of the eight categories, Enniscorthy scored better than the section’s winner – Trim. Where we as a town fall down is in two areas: Sustainability and Litter. Billy said the group would be concentrating more on these areas in 2023 and would be liaising closely with Enniscorthy Municipal District to better tackle the litter problem. Regarding the local awards night, Sean Doyle expressed disappointment that many of the award winners were not present on the night considering the huge amount of work that goes into judging and organising these awards. But that is to take nothing away from the various award winners who are listed in the accompanying table. Well done to all those and the highly commended. n PUBLIC BUILDINGS St. Patrick's Special School, Drumgoold SHOP FRONTS Put a Bow On It, Aoife Foran BUSINESS PREMISES Dusty Boy Café/Arts/Prints Kate Rose Crane & Justin Campbell MOST IMPROVED PREMISES Kehoe's Hardware, Hempfield NEW DEVELOPMENT The Railway Square HOUSING ESTATES Slaney View Park Residents' Association COMMUNITY AREA Enniscorthy Community Allotments, Michael Devereux LANDSCAPE AWARD The Grotto, Templeshannon ROSE GARDEN Theresa Larkin, 17 Daphne View LARGE GARDENS: 1ST. John Somers, 4 Kilagoley Terrace HIGHLY COMMENDED Lily Lacey, 97 Slaney View Park MEDIUM GARDENS: 1ST. Margaret Stamp, 15 Moran Park HIGHLY COMMENDED Bernie Hutchinson, 27 Cluain Charman SMALL GARDENS: 1ST. Jack Doyle, 92 Bellefield Road HIGHLY COMMENDED Jim & Maria Roche, 23 Moran Park OVERALL GARDEN WINNER Bernie Colgan, 29 Cherryorchard Heights CONTAINER GARDEN. 1ST. Marie Carroll, 24 Slaney View Park HIGHLY COMMENDED John & Mary Carroll, 11 Droim Catha H. BASKETS/W. BOXES 1ST. Nicola Farrell, St. Moling's Terrace HIGHLY COMMENDED Edward Murphy, 16 Vinegar Hill Villas COMMERCIAL PREMISES Mary Cummins H. BASKETS/W. BOXES The Abbey Café, Abbey Sq. Shopping Centre AJUDICATOR'S AWARD Paul Nolan, Kenny for Bikes (Joint Winner) Matt Mernagh, 1 Slaney Street (Joint Winner)

Award winners, local Councillors, and Enniscorthy Tidy Town’s Billy Murphy at the annual Enniscorthy Tidy Towns Awards night held on 29th November 2022. Full story in next month’s Slaney News.

Enniscorthy Tidy Towns retains bronze medal and wins architectural award

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Trash Nature and Biodiversity in Your Locality 26 From Sean Doyle Date of Inspection Inbox Marks Received Category F. Sean Doyle

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CATEGORY Hello Frank,

Attached are some statistics on the Enniscorthy result in the National Tidy Town Competition. I will have the results of our own gardens etc competition, if possible before the Annual Awards' night on 29th November.

Congratulations to the Enniscorthy Tidy Towns group, national winner of the SuperValu Ireland Tidy Towns Good Windows Award sponsored by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. A lot of credit goes to Dervla Tierney of Reimagining Enniscorthy for pulling everything together in relation to the submission for the windows at No.9 and No.31 Slaney Street. Well done to the Tidy Towns group also for retaining its bronze medal in category F of the national competition despite a number of setbacks during the year. The group would like to acknowledge the support of like-minded organisations such as Sustainable Enniscorthy, Community Allotments, Reimagining Enniscorthy and all the residents’ associations. Below: Award winners at the annual Enniscorthy Tidy Towns Awards night held on 29th November 2022. Full story in next month’s issue of the Slaney News. n

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Regards Sustainability - Doing More with Less

Sean Doyle

Tidiness & Litter Control Residential Streets & Housing Areas One attachment • Scanned by Gmail Approach Roads, Streets & Lanes TOTAL MARKS Our Highest Category Community : Your Planning and Inv Our Lowest Category Statistics re 2022 … Sustainability - Doing More with Le Our Second Lowest Category Tidiness and Litter Control OVERALL WINNER IN CATEGORY F. (OUR CATEGORY) IS TRIM. TRIM IS ALSO THE OVERALL NATIONAL WINNER THIS YEAR. ENNISCORTY 26 MARKS BEHIND TRIM Manythanksforthis. Received,thankyou. Man Trim received 15 more marks than Enniscorthy under the heading Litter Control WE RECEIVED MORE MARKS THAN TRIM UNDER THREE HEADINGS:1. Community Involvement and Planning: Enniscorthy 57 Trim 53 2. Stretscapes & Public Places: Enniscorthy 52 Trim 51 Reply Forward 3. Residential Street & Housing Areas:

Above: Enniscorthy’s statistics kindly compiled and supplied by Sean Doyle showing how the town fared and comparing those results with Trim which was the winner in Enniscorthy’s category.

Ferns Tidy Towns take home three environment awards

Ferns Tidy Towns group was delighted to have been presented with three awards at the Wexford County Council Environment Awards 2022 last month. The group was announced as the winner in two categories and a second place in a third category, and was presented with two plaques and a certificate along with a cash prize in the following categories: 1st prize - Best Community Waste Prevention/Reuse Project. 1st Prize - Best Community Project that Tackles & Reduces the Impact of Climate Change. 2nd Prize - Best Community Biodiversity Project. The group thanks its own hard-working committee, Wexford Co. Council, CE scheme and RSS workers, primary schools, crèches, local businesses, clubs and the community for getting involved and supporting them over the last year. Without that support the awards would not have been possible. n Climate action podcast

180 Degrees – an SEAI Podcast About Climate Action features guests from various strands of society, who each have a story to tell about their own personal relationship to climate action.

Guests include:

Liz Bonnin, Science, Wildlife and Natural History Broadcaster. Davie Philip, Community Catalyst. Eamon Ryan, Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, and Transport. Rachel Dempsey, Founder of Full Circle Change. Professor John Sweeney, Emeritus Professor of Geography at the NUI Maynooth. Lorna Gold, Author and Movement Builder. Sharon Finnegan, Director of the EPA with responsibility for the Office of Environmental Sustainability. All episodes are now available to download from the SEAI podcast page – if you like the podcast, please rate and review and share with friends and family. https://www.seai.ie/podcast/ n

Sean is awarded Ocean Hero Campaigner of the Year Title

Wexford-based Clean Coasts volunteer Sean Ferguson has brought home the Ocean Hero Campaigner of the Year title from the Ocean Hero Awards ceremony which took place in Kildare Street, Dublin, last month, celebrating and thanking the groups, individuals, communities, and businesses who, throughout the year, have done outstanding work to protect their local coastline and environment.

The awards were conceived in 2006 and this year Clean Coasts chose seven dedicated categories with a total of 28 groups, organisations and individuals shortlisted for the title of Ocean Hero within each category. In County Wexford, Sean Ferguson was nominated in the Individual of the Year category as well as in the new Campaigner of the Year category, winning the Campaigner of the Year title. This category is an acknowledgement of the individuals and groups who have engaged with and helped spread awareness about the work of Clean Coasts and its key campaigns – Think Before you Flush and the #2minutebeachclean. They are the voices championing the importance of reducing marine litter in their local areas and wider region. Since 2015, Seán has been cleaning beaches along the Wexford coast every morning all year round and has become a huge #2minutebeachclean supporter, after he discovered Clean Coasts through social media. He combines his beach cleaning with daily swims and walking his dog early before he starts work.

Sean uses social media to share images and videos of his daily beach cleans, not only showcasing what type of litter is impacting our ocean and environment, but also inspiring other people to take action by showing how easy it is to make a difference and how every single piece of litter removed from our coast is one less threat to our marine environment. L-R: Cathy Baxter, Director of the Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce; Sean Ferguson, winner of the Clean Coasts’ Ocean Hero Campaigner of the Year Award 2022; and Minister of State Malcolm Noonan TD.

Tomhaggard Clean Coasts group was nominated in the Beach Clean Award category for the clean-up events organised for the Big Beach Clean this year. Their first took place at the White Hole and focused on the area between Tacumshane Lake and the sea. This area is stunningly beautiful and is an area of special protection as it is home to hundreds of wild birds. Wildlife Ranger Tony Murray from Wexford Wildfowl Reserve also provided ATV assistance with this clean up. The second took place on the Ballyteigue Burrow in Kilmore Quay and focused on the area at the bottom of Furlongs Road. Irish Coast Guard – Kilmore Quay assisted with this clean up. n

Tidal science at Wexford Library

All are invited to join Wexford Science Café on Tuesday, December 13th at 7:30pm in Wexford Town Library where the science and art behind Línte na Farraige will be discussed. This project has installed a set of LED strip lights in Wexford harbour indicating where high tides might reach in a few decades. These are visible from three hours before high tide to three hours after; two strips are at or close to the Crescent, and one can be seen across the water in Ferrybank. Joining the discussion will be Trinity College Dublin researcher Dr Zoe Roseby, a specialist in tides; David Dodd, Dublin Climate Action Regional Officer, who initiated the project; Finnish artist Pekka Niityvirta (remotely), who designed the installation along with his colleague Timo Aho, and Wexford County Council environmental scientist Brendan Cooney, who was also involved in putting this in place. n Tuesday 13th December at 7:30 pm, Wexford Town Library. Booking is essential. Click here to book your place: https://wexfordcoco.libcal.com/event/3961154 or phone 053 9196760.

FUNDING FOR FLOODING STUDY

The government has granted funding for a feasibility study to investigate cause and possible solutions for recent flooding affecting Bridgemeadows in Enniscorthy. Wexford TD and Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne has welcomed the funding of €44,218. Wexford County Council lodged an application to carry out the feasibility study under the Minor Flood Mitigation and Coastal Protection Scheme. The feasibility study will consider the cause, possible solution and cost benefit of a flood relief scheme for Bridgemeadows. “I’m delighted to confirm the approval of funding. The feasibility study related to flooding in Bridgemeadows, Enniscorthy, will soon get underway. I’m sure this will be a great relief to the Bridgemeadows residents. I will certainly keep working with my Government colleagues to prioritise any solutions that may arise on foot of this feasibility study”, Minister Browne said. n

Radon Monitors are available to borrow in all Co. Wexford’s public libraries. All you need to borrow one is a library card! Please contact your local branch for details.

Green loans from Enniscorthy Credit Union

Need to retrofit your cold, 1970s house? Enniscorthy Credit Union’s Green Loan is designed to help you do just that – with one of its lowest rates for a loan 5.25% (5.4% APR) you can save money, save energy and save the environment with Enniscorthy Credit Union! Talk to them today at 053 9233835 or email: loans@enniscorthycu.ie n

Cllr Aidan Browne (Cathaoirleach Enniscorthy Municipal District) in centre, with Michael Devereux and Shelly Doyle of Enniscorthy Community Allotments – winner of the ‘Community Area’ category at the Enniscorthy Tidy Towns Awards held on 29th November 2022.

These six ‘R’s can save our planet!

Refuse single use plastics (bags, cups, etc) Rethink your choices Reuse as much as possible Repair before you replace Recycle all packaging and plastic bottles Rot all your organic stuff and put it back into the soil n Did you know?

Did you know that people use a plastic bottle for an average of 11 minutes? Meanwhile it takes up to 450 years to decompose! Reusable bottles are becoming more and more popular and thankfully there are now a number of locations on the streets of Enniscorthy where you can fill them with water for free. So if you want to do one thing today for nature, avoid using disposable plastic bottles. n