Community action/Ireland

Meitheal (IPA: [ˈmʲɛhəlˠ]) is the Irish word for a work team, gang, or party and denotes the co-operative labour system in Ireland where groups of neighbours help each other in turn with farming work such as harvesting crops.

The term is used in various writings of Irish language authors. It can convey the idea of community spirit in which neighbours respond to each other's needs. In modern use for example, a meitheal could be a party of neighbours and friends invited to help decorate a house in exchange for food and drink, or in scouting, where volunteer campsite wardens maintain campsites around Ireland.

One meeting on climate change was planned, for the weekends starting 30 September and 4 November 2017; the second was added to the schedule on 17 July. Speakers included the chair of the advisory group for a promised "National Dialogue on Climate Change".

Recommendations, all passed by at least 80% of members, included: empowering an independent body to address climate change; Greenhouse gas (GHG) tax, including carbon tax and agricultural GHG tax; encouragement of climate change mitigation, electric vehicles, public transport, forests, organic farming, and natural peat bogs; reduction of food waste; microgeneration of electricity; ending subsidy of peat extraction; increasing bus lanes, cycle lanes and park and ride facilities.

The Oireachtas responded to the report by establishing a Joint Committee on Climate Action, which published its own report on 29 March 2019. On 9 May 2019 the Dáil endorsed the committee's report and symbolically declared a "climate and biodiversity emergency",. The motion also requested a Citizen's Assembly to study the biodiversity loss emergency and how the state can improve its response. A "government action plan on climate change" followed on 17 June 2019.

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland – a sovereign state covering five-sixths of the island) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom – covering the remaining sixth). It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. As of 2022, the population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.

The geography of Ireland comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of over 33%, with most of it being non-native conifer plantations. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild climate, which is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.