This makes timely reading in Ireland given Minister for the Environment John Gormley's view that the eco village model (and, presumably, both eco town and eco city should the Irish economy ever have the need for growth on such a scale) represents his vision of how Ireland should develop.

Minister Gormley's plans to ban incandescent light bulbs by next year are on track, according to an article in Monday's Irish Times. To view the full article you'll need to subscribe to the Irish Times online service.

Although it may appear to regular Construct Ireland readers to be stating the obvious, computer modeling of climate change by Met Eireann is predicting hotter, drier summers and wetter winters for Ireland in the years ahead. Perhaps of most interest in the modeling is the predictions of how climate change will have varying impacts  in different parts of the country.

The north and west of Ireland can brace themselves for wetter, stormier weather, while summer droughts will cause water shortages in particular in the east - no doubt exacerbated by over-development in the Greater Dublin area.

On the other hand, if Dublin City Council's planned piping of water from the Shannon to Dublin goes unchecked, perhaps water supply (along with biodiversity and water-based tourism) will become an issue affecting many other parts of the country.