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https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2025/0904/1531717-white-tailed-eagle/

The first confirmed birth of a white-tailed eagle in Co Waterford for over 150 years has taken place.

The chick is the result of the White-Tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme, run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

The programme has been in place since 2007 and aims to restore the white-tailed eagle to Ireland.

The species was once widespread but was driven to extinction more than 100 years ago due to human activity.

SouthGalway (Galway) - Posts: 10 - 04/09/2025 12:32:55    2634869

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Replying To FullOfPorter:  "Ireland was an agricultural country..less than 5 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture and less than 1 percent of our GDP comes from agriculture. Even in rural areas, less than a third of the people living there are farming. We are a services economy with some manufacturing. There is no reason why housing and infrastructure development shouldn't be shifted towards the western half. If we want the GAA as we know it to survive it needs to happen. High speed broadband nearly all over the country. Fair enough scenic areas of Connemara the Burren etc but rural housing around small villages and even one offs are not a problem as long as septic tanks are functioning. Electric cars will be the norm in the not so distant future so the Dublin Green rubbish of we all needing to be in towns to be sustainable doesn't wash."
The bottom two thirds of your post is reasonable, but the top third is very debatable. Agricultural production here is key to what we do broadly speaking, almost all of our beef is exported and that's a lot, almost 70% of farming land is used for agriculture. We are the second biggest Exporter of dairy products, we are also the second biggest exporter of butter in the world to the United States, I'm not up to speed on the pro's and con's of the farming industry but I do know that overall, we would be in a bad place without it, near bankruptcy comes to mind.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3264 - 04/09/2025 12:45:28    2634875

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Replying To KillingFields:  "Dont see how Jim Gavin will be hard to beat if he gets the nom. Has no political pedigree. plenty wont know him or what he stands for. Like what does he stand for. have we seen him speak much on anything beyond the GAA in any depth over time"
I was thinking on the Dublin vote being decisive given the population there, the GAA vote nationwide too, a lot of people like Jim Gavin, I suppose the purpose of the election campaign and debates is to let the people hear these people speak and learn more about them.
Jim is a cool customer from what I've seen of him in high pressure games on the side line, that's a big plus in an Uachtarán where a cool head is required, he considers he's saying and doesn't shoot from the hip so to speak.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3447 - 04/09/2025 12:56:37    2634879

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Replying To Maroonatic:  "Build more houses but NIMBY
Build more houses but don't introduce water charges to help put in place the sewage and water supply & services needed
Build more houses but don't congest my road or delay my commute to work
Build more houses but don't dare take away anymore green belts
Build more houses but don't bring in any of those foreign types needed to help resource the construction industry
Build more houses but don't put any more stress on the national grid
Build more houses but expect to pass on the cost of materials
Why isn't the govt. building more houses?"
Build more houses, with it comes population growth, with population growth comes more e-bikers, it's difficult to see them on the footpaths until it's too late, it should be compulsory for them to wear Hi-Viz jackets and stay off the footpaths.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3264 - 04/09/2025 13:03:53    2634881

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Replying To Seanfan:  "As his full time jobs were public service ones he'd have had constraints on what he'd say in public?"
Expressing what you stand for as an individual does not have to conflict with his job - his job is in the aviation sector, there are a lot of social issues that have no bearing on his role. But extending your logic it would imply that by staying silent then he is saying he disagrees with everything that is government policy.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2071 - 04/09/2025 13:59:16    2634887

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Replying To supersub15:  "The bottom two thirds of your post is reasonable, but the top third is very debatable. Agricultural production here is key to what we do broadly speaking, almost all of our beef is exported and that's a lot, almost 70% of farming land is used for agriculture. We are the second biggest Exporter of dairy products, we are also the second biggest exporter of butter in the world to the United States, I'm not up to speed on the pro's and con's of the farming industry but I do know that overall, we would be in a bad place without it, near bankruptcy comes to mind."
I know it seems big because of it's so ingrained in our culture but relatively to our other industries it is still smallish. I thought that as well until i started looking at the numbers. It still only makes up around 10 percent of our exports. We need agriculture but we would not go bankrupt in the morning. Unfortunately if WW3 broke out our agri industry is so dysfunctional we wouldn't be able to feed ourselves apart from living on steaks, butter and cheese. We'd have a nice time but probably all dead by 50 with heart disease. Tillage and horticultural sectors have been completely neglected and we are completely reliant on imports for the bulk of our calorie intake. Ask any tillage farmer down yer way, they can't make money. No subsidies like the livestock boys. They can't compete now with dairy for land. Our veg sector getting smaller and smaller when we should be growing it, with polytunnels allowing us to grow pretty much everything and we have the water more than Spain to resource it.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 337 - 04/09/2025 14:11:03    2634891

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Replying To supersub15:  "Build more houses, with it comes population growth, with population growth comes more e-bikers, it's difficult to see them on the footpaths until it's too late, it should be compulsory for them to wear Hi-Viz jackets and stay off the footpaths."
Should have to be registered, taxed and licence required.

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 106 - 04/09/2025 14:19:58    2634893

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Replying To Tirchonaill1:  "Changing your tune then so, 'It wouldn't upset me at all if she won' that's good to know, wouldn't want to see the like of you upset.
We'll learn more about these candidates now as the thing progresses, I think it's important that our Uachtarán is fluent in our native language imo anyway,
not sure how fluent Jim Gavin is? this could be a closer race than many think, I think the Dublin vote will be the decider though, Jim Gavin will be hard to beat if he gets the FF nomination.
Sir Bob's a non runner imo, we can't have a knight of the realm as Uachtarán na hÉireann can we?"
How am I changing my tune by the way? My original post pointed out she supported Gemma O Doherty ahead of President Higgins. That was it? Where was I upset in any way?

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8503 - 04/09/2025 15:04:07    2634898

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Replying To zinny:  "Expressing what you stand for as an individual does not have to conflict with his job - his job is in the aviation sector, there are a lot of social issues that have no bearing on his role. But extending your logic it would imply that by staying silent then he is saying he disagrees with everything that is government policy."
But extending your logic it would imply that by staying silent then he is saying he disagrees with everything that is government policy.

It wouldn't.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8234 - 04/09/2025 15:09:10    2634899

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Now that Fifa have confirmed that a dynamic pricing model (like Oasis) will apply for the 2026 Soccer World Cup tickets in America, Canada and Mexico; they can count me out. If Ireland do happen to qualify for next year's tournament, Irish fans are going to be fleeced as they will be well supported.
Best of luck to the team on Saturday against Hungary.

letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 792 - 04/09/2025 16:11:07    2634909

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Replying To letsgetgoing:  "Now that Fifa have confirmed that a dynamic pricing model (like Oasis) will apply for the 2026 Soccer World Cup tickets in America, Canada and Mexico; they can count me out. If Ireland do happen to qualify for next year's tournament, Irish fans are going to be fleeced as they will be well supported.
Best of luck to the team on Saturday against Hungary."
I dont think it's something that Irish fans are going to need to worry about. Apart from our goalkeepers who are decent, what do we have in our squad....2 or 3 journeyman Premiership players, the rest all at Championship level at best (I'd include any Scottish Premiership players in that).In the very unlikely circumstances that they qualify, I'll be giving a lot of kudos to the manager because it would mean he'll have got them to perform to a level higher than most of them ordinarily obtain.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2075 - 04/09/2025 17:29:44    2634918

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Replying To Seanfan:  "Should have to be registered, taxed and licence required."
That would open up a whole new can of worms now wouldn't it.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3264 - 04/09/2025 19:54:25    2634926

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Replying To PoolSturgeon:  "I dont think it's something that Irish fans are going to need to worry about. Apart from our goalkeepers who are decent, what do we have in our squad....2 or 3 journeyman Premiership players, the rest all at Championship level at best (I'd include any Scottish Premiership players in that).In the very unlikely circumstances that they qualify, I'll be giving a lot of kudos to the manager because it would mean he'll have got them to perform to a level higher than most of them ordinarily obtain."
You're not wrong, but what's the level of our international peers? Are Hungary way ahead of us by that metric? I think not. There's no reason we can't finish second in this group, after which we'd have to get two wins which depends entirely on the luck of the draw. If you get the likes of Lithuania, Estonia, Bosnia etc. It's doable.

If you can't be optimistic before qualifying even starts that's pretty bleak.

Personally I think we've seen steady improvement in the last year.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 3906 - 05/09/2025 09:16:30    2634957

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Trump rebrands the Department of Defence to the "Department of War" because "defence is too defensive" and it was called the war department during WW1 and WW2 "when WE won everything" was he bored in the office one day and came up with this?

What about the millions of Americans living on or below the poverty line and those with no health cover? Real issues? That country is broken. Sad to see. A snake oil salesman if ever there was one.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11768 - 05/09/2025 09:31:36    2634958

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Replying To tireoghainabu:  "When did Cork become Ireland's second city?"
We've no control over the six counties….yet. I was talking about the republic, so Cork is the second largest city.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11768 - 05/09/2025 11:02:09    2634971

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An open question.

Is the counting of votes for the Presential election based on the same principal as that of a general election here. ie PR system
Thanks in advance.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3264 - 05/09/2025 12:08:34    2634979

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Trump rebrands the Department of Defence to the "Department of War" because "defence is too defensive" and it was called the war department during WW1 and WW2 "when WE won everything" was he bored in the office one day and came up with this?

What about the millions of Americans living on or below the poverty line and those with no health cover? Real issues? That country is broken. Sad to see. A snake oil salesman if ever there was one."
No doubt Mr Ts acolyte from Clare who was pushing him as a " president for peace" will have some watery justification for this. The man does seem to be becoming more and more unpredictable. He seems to live in his own world and wants to shape everything to align with whatever view of the world he holds - which views might last 5 minutes at a time.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1848 - 05/09/2025 13:43:25    2634994

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Replying To yew_tree:  "We've no control over the six counties….yet. I was talking about the republic, so Cork is the second largest city."
That's a terribly worded post. What do you mean by "have control over"? Sounds like you think they will be some sort of colony, people with your attitude are hurting our chances of reunification. And as regards second largest city in Ireland, Belfast is in Ireland and is the 2nd largest city in it. The fact that it isn't currently a part of the Republic of Ireland doesn't change that geographical fact. If you want to talk about the 26 counties you should be more specific. The 26 counties aren't and never were the whole of Ireland.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17025 - 05/09/2025 14:31:06    2635006

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Replying To Viking66:  "That's a terribly worded post. What do you mean by "have control over"? Sounds like you think they will be some sort of colony, people with your attitude are hurting our chances of reunification. And as regards second largest city in Ireland, Belfast is in Ireland and is the 2nd largest city in it. The fact that it isn't currently a part of the Republic of Ireland doesn't change that geographical fact. If you want to talk about the 26 counties you should be more specific. The 26 counties aren't and never were the whole of Ireland."
Calm down will you. The debate was around infrastructure and no we don't have control over the infrastructure of the six counties. You know exactly what I was talking about but just wanted to pick a fight…jog on.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11768 - 05/09/2025 14:50:47    2635013

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One thing for sure with Trump anyway is there is never a dull moment,
'The Dept of War' is a better name for the USA's Dept of Defence when you think about it,
the USA are almost constantly at war either by proxy or otherwise somewhere in the world.
On our Presidential election I think it's just a straight first past the post vote isn't it?

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3447 - 05/09/2025 15:42:23    2635019

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