The conference, jointly hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government and An Taisce, was funded under the National Waste Prevention Programme.

Called Greening Irish Communities the event was for a broad range of people from the public, private and voluntary sectors attended to explore how to set ambitious targets for ‘greening’.

And how public, private, voluntary, social and cultural organisations can make a positive contribution in this area and can work together towards such a common goal.

Mary Kelly, director general of the environmental protection agency, said: “Our vision is to develop a network of organisations and individuals which will work together to integrate initiatives such as green schools, green homes, green hotels, green businesses, tidy towns, and transition towns into every Irish community, big or small.

“Participants today debated how a national certification programme for green communities in Ireland might work.

“I firmly believe that the result of these activities will include real and measurable reductions in environmental impact such as reduced waste production, reduced energy consumption and a reduced carbon footprint for Ireland.”

Luke Walsh

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe