TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

awareness and wisdom of community. Only time will tell if such a spiritual renaissance can be
converted into a fresh form of economic inspiration and societal well-being one built perhaps on
the adage of ‘better-not-more’.
Sustainability
Reconciling growth and sustainability lies at the heart of “Wild Cats of Equality” world.
Ideological concerns about the environment have been translated over the past fifteen years to
2030 into practical action. Sustainability is seen from a global perspective, including the
maintenance of biodiversity, the protection of global commons (the atmosphere, the oceans and
the wilderness areas), and fair access to environmental resources. Policy, in fact, is
increasingly co-ordinated at international and EU levels, and Ireland is a willing acolyte.
In fact, Ireland’s attitude to the environment experienced a sharp turnaround in the second
decade of the 21 st century. The country’s neglect of environmental quality was one of the
main causes behind the collapse of the tourism industry around 2011, and further contributed to
the fall-off in foreign direct investment and multi-national relocation at around the same time.
Since then, environmental issues have come to exert a strong influence on the progressive
policies of pro-active administrations determined to reduce the conflict between business and
the community.
One of the boldest environmental regeneration projects was the planting of vast areas of forest,
mainly in the midlands and the West, starting in 2012 and continued thereafter, so that some
15% of Irish land is now covered by managed woodland. Ireland also has just over 600 large
farms, almost half of which produce high-quality organic food, and the other half, well
separated, grow genetically modified crops across a wide range of functional food products.
Conserving existing resources and funding alternative and renewable energy sources have been
central to Ireland’s progress over the past couple of decades. Following difficulties with water
supplies in different parts of the country and Dublin Water Crisis of 2013, the NSS II identified
water as one of the island’s most threatened resources, and, over subsequent years, ways to
ensure long-term protection of quality water availability have consequently been given high
priority, making it in plentiful supply, unlike so many other parts of Europe and the world. In
similar vein, Ireland has become one of Europe’s biggest providers of clean energy. It boasts
the largest offshore windfarm, and, thanks to its Atlantic location, wind and wave power
account for almost 5% of gross net income. In addition, domestic and commercial recycling is
widely practised, and all new homes built since 2009 have been energy efficient.
Controversially, at the outset, almost half of the country’s energy is nuclear in origin, being
provided by eight small HTGR reactors located in relatively remote parts of the island. Of the
other half, some 35% is provided by renewable sources and about 15% comes from thermal waste
disposal.
The EU has imposed a range of eco-taxes and environmental levies that has ushered in an age
in which individual polluters face stringent financial penalties. All businesses, since 2017 have
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