€76 million investment announced for regional and local roads in Cork
These grants will supplement local authorities’ own resources expenditure on regional and local road projects.
The Government has today announced details of the 2021 investment programme for regional and local roads.
A €555m funding package has been announced will allow approximately 3,100kms of roads to be maintained and 2,450kms to be strengthened.
More than €76m will be invested in works in Cork including €66.5m in Cork County Council and €9.5million Cork City Council.
These grants will supplement local authorities’ own resources expenditure on regional and local road projects.
A number of different types of projects around the city and county are to receive funds as part of the investment with funds for example for rehabilitation works at Ballynamona Bridge in the county and at Healy s Bridge in the city, traffic calming measures in areas such as Rathcormac and safety improvement wor
€10 million in EU funds for big midlands peat bog project
Reporter:
news@leinsterexpress.ie
Micheal D Higgins on a visit to Abbeyleix Bog which was saved and rehabilitated by a community project in Laois );
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The European Commission is to fund €10million towards a project which it is claimed will have a big peatlands rehabilitation element.
Bord na Móna, which is coordinating the project, said the Peatlands and People project is a major national initiative that has won funding support from the European Commission which will contribute to the long term implementation of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. The company says it will engage people in Ireland and across the European Union with the benefits of peatlands restoration, in particular, to realise the power of peatlands in climate action.
Irish peatlands restoration project secures €10m in EU funding
The Peatlands and People project aims to promote peatlands restoration as a positive step for climate action.
The European Commission has granted funding for an Irish initiative highlighting the importance of peatlands to the planet’s future. Through the EU Life programme, €10m has been awarded to the Peatlands and People project led Bord na Móna, which aims to engage with people in Ireland and across the EU about the benefits of peatlands restoration and how it can effect positive climate action.
Earlier this year, Bord na Móna confirmed it had formally ended all peat harvesting on its lands as part of its ‘brown to green’ strategy. It also recently launched a Peatlands Restoration plan, prioritising the conversion of peatlands from fossil fuel sources to large-scale carbon capture sites.
Government to introduce legislation to ban licences for new oil and gas exploration
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has obtained cabinet approval to introduce legislation to ban licences for new oil and natural gas exploration.
The legislation will be included in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Amendment Bill, which will go before the Oireachtas shortly.
Today’s (Tuesday, February 2) decision will ensure legislative effect is given to the commitment in the Programme for Government to end the issuing of new licences for the exploration and extraction of gas, on the same basis as the 2019 decision in relation to oil exploration and extraction.
Some €10m in EU funding has been allocated to Ireland for a
Peatlands and People project which will see a peatlands centre of excellence established.
The project is to contribute to the long-term implementation of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan.
Co-ordinated by Bord na Móna, together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, National University of Ireland Galway and ERINN Innovation Ltd, with additional co-financing from Department of Agriculture, the project will work with peatlands across Ireland’s midlands and the communities around them to deliver capacity and support related to a low-carbon economy.
The project will establish three things: