Governance barriers to sustainable energy transitions – Assessing Ireland's capacity towards marine energy futures

Marine energies (ME), including offshore hydcrocarbons along with marine renewable energies (MRE), such as offshore wind, wave and tidal energy, are increasingly important in the future energy mix of many nations. We observe that ME governance is complex, as development offshore involves engagement and may often result in conflict. This paper examines the Irish case, where offshore gas and oil remain relatively undeveloped, and yet have provoked extensive controversy. Moreover, Ireland exhibits very ambitious plans for MRE developments. Against a background, where ME development seems to have stalled, the objective of the paper is to analyse the Irish governance setup and its capacity to deliver ME and whether the current system is equipped to enable transition to MREs. Current governance systems lack efficacy in terms of policy integration and enforcement, government oversight, and public trust due to past failures. Although, management approaches have been developed to address some of the barriers, domains such as policy/regulation, industry development and public engagement are disconnected. Results: presented may not simply be generalised, as each country context is different. An analysis of examples with similar issues must focus on studying the context of the governance setup and balances of power across domains

Investigation of an elevated sands unit at Tralispean Bay, South-West Ireland – potential high-energy marine event

A sequence of high elevation sands containing both broken and whole marine shells, as well as many mega-sized, raft-shaped boulders (1-3m across) has been discovered at Tralispean Bay, West Cork, Ireland. Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), ground surveying and differential GPS (dGPS) show that the sediments cover an area of c.0.75ha, reaching a maximum height of c.+18.5m ODM, with interconnected pockets of sand varying in thickness of up to 1m. Coring, lithostratigraphic study, granulometry, organics loss-on-ignition and carbonate content analyses, together with examination of micro- and macrofossils, indicate that the shelly sands were deposited rapidly, under high energy conditions. Informal interviews with local residents, as well as the extent of the sands, suggest that the deposit is not the result of human actions. Elevations reached by the sediments, the presence of mega-boulders, and other indicators make it unlikely that these sediments arose from storm activity. It is possible that they have been deposited as the result of a tsunami. The radiocarbon (AMS) date obtained places the age of such an event at 1465 AD (Cal BP 485). At present, no clear historical record has been identified of any tsunami impacts affecting the south coast of Ireland other than the Lisbon earthquake of 1755

PolyGR and polyPR knock-in mice reveal a conserved neuroprotective extracellular matrix signature in C9orf72 ALS/FTD neurons

Dipeptide repeat proteins are a major pathogenic feature of C9orf72 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (C9ALS)/frontotemporal dementia (FTD) pathology, but their physiological impact has yet to be fully determined. Here we generated C9orf72 dipeptide repeat knock-in mouse models characterized by expression of 400 codon-optimized polyGR or polyPR repeats, and heterozygous C9orf72 reduction. (GR)400 and (PR)400 knock-in mice recapitulate key features of C9ALS/FTD, including cortical neuronal hyperexcitability, age-dependent spinal motor neuron loss and progressive motor dysfunction. Quantitative proteomics revealed an increase in extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in (GR)400 and (PR)400 spinal cord, with the collagen COL6A1 the most increased protein. TGF-β1 was one of the top predicted regulators of this ECM signature and polyGR expression in human induced pluripotent stem cell neurons was sufficient to induce TGF-β1 followed by COL6A1. Knockdown of TGF-β1 or COL6A1 orthologues in polyGR model Drosophila exacerbated neurodegeneration, while expression of TGF-β1 or COL6A1 in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons of patients with C9ALS/FTD protected against glutamate-induced cell death. Altogether, our findings reveal a neuroprotective and conserved ECM signature in C9ALS/FTD.</p

Governance barriers to sustainable energy transitions – Assessing Ireland\u27s capacity towards marine energy futures

Marine energies (ME), including offshore hydcrocarbons along with marine renewable energies (MRE), such as offshore wind, wave and tidal energy, are increasingly important in the future energy mix of many nations. We observe that ME governance is complex, as development offshore involves engagement and may often result in conflict. This paper examines the Irish case, where offshore gas and oil remain relatively undeveloped, and yet have provoked extensive controversy. Moreover, Ireland exhibits very ambitious plans for MRE developments. Against a background, where ME development seems to have stalled, the objective of the paper is to analyse the Irish governance setup and its capacity to deliver ME and whether the current system is equipped to enable transition to MREs. Current governance systems lack efficacy in terms of policy integration and enforcement, government oversight, and public trust due to past failures. Although, management approaches have been developed to address some of the barriers, domains such as policy/regulation, industry development and public engagement are disconnected. Results: presented may not simply be generalised, as each country context is different. An analysis of examples with similar issues must focus on studying the context of the governance setup and balances of power across domains