Friends of the Earth launched its organisation in Ireland yesterday, claiming that it would succeed where other environmental organisations had failed.
Friends of the Earth (FOE) Ireland will be part of an international network which has over one million members in 70 countries around the world. The latest Nobel peace prizewinner - Kenyan environmental activist Ms Wangari Maathai - is a patron.
FOE Ireland believes it can recruit about 7,000 members and has already began a street recruitment campaign. It is advertising for a director in this weekend's newspapers.
The group will campaign on environmental issues such as pollution, climate change, energy and transport, with the aim of creating a sustainable community.
Mr Mark Dearey, FOE Ireland board member said this organisation would be different from others because it would succeed in getting its message through to people. "Our capacity internationally far exceeds anything in Ireland at the moment."
Some FOE members were involved in Earthwatch which ceased trading last year. Greenpeace Ireland also ceased operations recently.
Mr Dearey said the new Irish operation would have a global perspective through the international network of Friends of the Earth groups and it would also have strong links with Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland.
He said he anticipated serious opposition to some of its ideas from the Government but said this State was on the verge of becoming an environmental disaster area if action was not taken.
The Celtic Tiger could not be allowed to "munch through our natural capital as though there is an infinite supply of land banks, clean water and fossil fuels", he said.
"There is widespread illegal dumping. A quarter of our ground water supplies were sewage-contaminated in 2002. Irish fish stocks are declining dramatically," Mr Dearey said. By 2008, carbon dioxide emissions will cost Irish taxpayers an extra €40 million a year."
Mr John Woods, director of FOE Northern Ireland, said the two groups would work together to tackle environmental problems on both sides of the Border.
"Astonishing levels of domestic and commercial waste from the Republic, more than a quarter of a million tonnes, have been illegally dumped in the North." Similarly, waterways in the Republic had been contaminated by Northern Ireland sources.
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'Dirty dozen' complaints: Friends of the Earth
1. We have the highest number of European complaints per head of population on environmental issues.
2. We are the most car dependent country in the world, with carbon dioxide emissions increasing by 124 per cent between 1990 and 2002.
3. Greenhouse gas emissions will exceed Kyoto limits by almost 40 per cent in 2010.
4. Some 25 fish species are in decline and 18 native wild bird species are endangered.
5. Widespread illegal dumping (left).
6. Government subsidies for aviation are causing major environmental damage.
7. GM crops have failed to reduce pesticide use.
8. The peat stations planned for Shannonbridge and Lanesborough will burn about
1,500 hectares of peatlands every year for the next 15 years.
9. Only 5.6 per cent of household waste was diverted from landfill in 2001.
10. Per capita production of household waste increased by 17 per cent between 1998 and 2001.
11. Some 66 per cent of shellfish water sites must be purified for 48 hours before sale.
12. Faecal coliforms were found in 25 per cent of all ground water samples in 2001-2002. ... Source: Friends of the Earth Ireland
