Mooney, Monday August 18th 2014

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On Mooney today...

Rory Cowan steps into Derek's shower, we find out why Derek ended up in the back of a PSNI vehicle, and Conor Horgan from Irish Business Against Litter tells us about their latest survey...

Mooney's Singers In The Shower & Rory Cowan

The winner of MOONEY's Singing in the Shower competition will get a Voucher from TileStyle worth €2500.

TileStyle is a one stop shop, offering a vast selection of high quality Bathrooms, Tiles, Stone, Wood Flooring and Paint. TileStyle is open 7 days a week and is conveniently located just off the M50 at Exit10. Their highly trained team is available to offer any advice or assistance you might need. Meet them here or drop into the stunning showroom. To find out more visit www.tilestyle.ie

To enter, all you have to do is make an audio recording of yourself singing in the shower. (If you do this during your daily wash you will not waste water).

Send your audio recording, not to exceed one minute in duration, along with your name and contact number to mooney@rte.ie. Please do not send recordings of original compositions. Click here to read terms and conditions for RTÉ.ie and click here to read competition terms and conditions.

Entry to the competition confirms your acceptance of these terms and conditions.

The prize for Ireland's Best Singer in the Shower, as decided by our panel of judges, will be announced on Mooney. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Please note that if you submit a recording, RTÉ reserve the right to use this material as it sees fit in accordance with the terms and conditions for rté.ie.

Who is our mystery singer in Derek's shower today? It's Rory Cowan, from Mrs. Browne's Boys!

Listen

Derek Rides With The PSNI

On Saturday, Derek ended up in the back of a PSNI Land Rover Tangi in Belfast. Why? Take a listen!

A PSNI Land Rover Tangi vehicle

Listen

Litter In Ireland

The results of the Irish Business Against Litter survey came out today, and urban Ireland – Dublin included - isn't doing well. This is interesting because we were only talking about this last week with Paul Harrington, when he told us he thought Dublin was a mess...

The Irish Business Against Litter survey says that while Ireland's towns continue to get cleaner, our main cities remain littered. In fact, North Inner City Dublin and Farranree in Cork are both exposed as litter black-spots.

To tell us more, we are joined in studio by Conor Horgan, spokesperson for Irish Business Against Litter...

To read the full report, click here.

Singles Night Out!

We are organising a singles night out for our listeners who are over 35! The where and when is still being finalised, but if you are interested in joining in the fun, then send us an e-mail! Let us know your age, gender, and if you are single. You must be available to travel to the venue at your own expense. Please send your e-mail to mooney@rte.ie, with the subject line 'Singles Night Out'. And keep listening for further information!

Search For A Child Star Finalists

Earlier this year, we launched our competition to find Ireland's newest child star. The competition was open to boys and girls who were aged 10 years old or under. We asked you to record a piece that was no more than three minutes long, and e-mail it in to us.

The finalists, in no particular order, are:

- Hannah Kinsella (9 years old, from Lucan, Co. Dublin) with Pushover
- Nikki Brown (8 years old, from Saggart, Co. Dublin) with Colours Of The Wind
- Anna Lily Fox (6 years old, from Ballinalee, Co. Longford) with a Johnny Cash medley
- Laoise Farrell (9 years old, from Ogonnolloe. Co. Clare) with The Call
- Alannah Bermingham (10 years old, from Kilmacud, Dublin) with Colours Of The Wind

The date for the final will be announced shortly and the winner will perform at our Christmas Mooney Tunes concert.

Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.

UPDATE: February 29th 2016 - Press Release From BirdWatch Ireland:

Putting the record straight: Dates for burning and hedge-cutting have NOT changed

BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland’s largest conservation charity, is very concerned about misinformation that is currently circulating regarding the dates within which the burning of vegetation and cutting of hedges is permitted. It would like to remind landowners that all burning and cutting must cease on 29th February this year and that burning and cutting remains prohibited from 1st March to 31st August.

Despite attempts by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., to change the laws regulating these dates by introducing the Heritage Bill 2016 earlier this year, it is important to note that the proposed date changes were ultimately NOT made. This is because the bill failed to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas before the recent dissolution of the Dáil in advance of the general election.

The laws in place governing the dates for hedge-cutting and upland burning therefore remain unchanged. The period within which cutting and burning is prohibited are set down in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 (as amended in 2000), which states that:

(a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection (above).

The existing law provides exemptions for road safety and other circumstances and should be read carefully to ensure compliance.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act exists to protect nesting birds. Many of our upland bird species are in decline and are in danger of extinction in Ireland; amongst them is the Curlew, which has declined by 80%. Many birds which nest in hedgerows into August are also in serious decline, including the endangered Yellowhammer. The changes to the cutting and burning dates which had been proposed in the now-defunct Heritage Bill 2016 would have caused serious impacts to these birds. A petition launched by BirdWatch Ireland in conjunction with several other national conservation organisations to stop these changes attracted more than 16,200 signatures and rising.

BirdWatch Ireland would also like to advise members of the public that if they see hedges being cut or fires in the uplands on or after 1st March, such activity could be illegal. In such cases, we would encourage people to contact the National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.ie) to report such activity.

BirdWatch Ireland warmly welcomes the demise of the Heritage Bill 2016 and sincerely hopes that any future administration will consider the importance of Ireland’s natural heritage and will not attempt to reintroduce such a flawed and damaging piece of legislation.

To contact your local wildlife ranger, click here for contact details. To read the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, click here.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Please DO NOT send any live, dead or skeletal remains of any creature whatsoever to Mooney Goes Wild.

If you find an injured animal or bird, please contact the National Parks & Wildlife Service on 1890 20 20 21, or BirdWatch Ireland, on 01 281-9878, or visit www.irishwildlifematters.ie

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Music Played on the Show

Cry Me A River

Michael Buble