Climate matters raised at Council meeting

Members of the public have until the end of March to make submissions or comments on the draft River Basin Management Plan 2020-2027 which was launched by the Government in September last year.

The draft plan and associated documents and information is available to view at www.gov.ie/draftRBMP and the public consultation period ends on 31st March next. In addition, the Local Authority Waters Programme Office, who provide a shared service on behalf of the local authorities, and who are coordinating the consultation process, have developed a virtual consultation room which contains key information from the draft plan, and includes an online submission form for community groups and members of the public to submit their views and comments – the virtual consultation room is accessible via https://drbmp-vcr.ie.

County councillors were told by Chief Executive Jackie Maguire that the Rubbish Film Festival has got under way. The project began at Loreto school in early December with a two-day workshop for transition year students. This will see the students create a five minute movie based on a local or global environmental issue. The scheme will be rolled out to other schools in Meath in the coming month and the films will be shown and adjudicated at the Guth Gala Documentary Film Festival in Kells in 2022.

A public awareness campaign is underway on the A-B-C of cleaner air this Winter and centring on three core messages relating to the lighting of fires, the burning of cleaner, more efficient low smoke fuels, and maintenance of chimneys and heating appliances. The campaign was launched ahead of the introduction of the new Solid Fuel Regulations coming into place for the 2022 heating season.