THERE WILL be no reductions of carbon emissions while the Greens are in Government, Labour environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy has claimed.
Ms Tuffy said there had been no reductions in emissions “and the Minister is not planning on there being actual reductions in emissions up to 2012 when this Government’s term in office ends”.
Sharply criticising the handling of climate change policy by Minister for the Environment John Gormley, she said: “Everything the Minister is doing is on the surface. There is no substance to it. It is all about appearances, public relations and spin. It started with the carbon budget, which was not a carbon budget at all.”
She claimed the Minister had admitted that for the next five years, “the way we will achieve our carbon reductions is by purchasing carbon credits”.
She accused Mr Gormley of using climate change “to mask what the Greens are not doing in Government”. She added that Mr Gormley “used to oppose incineration, now he is just opposed to where it is located.”
Ms Tuffy was speaking during a debate on climate change introduced by Minister of State for the Environment Michael Finneran.
Standing in for Mr Gormley, who was on Government business abroad, Mr Finneran said: “Ireland is playing its part, at national level and within the European Union, but also in supporting international efforts to achieve consensus on a comprehensive global response to climate change.
“The Ireland National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012, published last year, sets out the measures by which Ireland will meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments, and how these measures will position us to achieve further significant emission reductions in the period beyond 2012.”
Proposals for carbon emissions “raise serious economic and social issues for Ireland and a detailed analysis of the elements of the package is ongoing in the relevant Departments”.
Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan expressed disappointment that Mr Finneran made “no mention of the 3 per cent average reduction per annum target for greenhouse gases over the next five years set in the programme for government”. After one year, “we have merely seen tinkering around the edges with no substantive change on the targets set out”.
Ciarán Cuffe (Green, Dún Laoghaire) said his party had taken “decisive action” to address climate change.
“The new vehicle registration and taxation system . . . will bring about radical changes in the way we consider our motoring habits. The profound changes which have been made to the building regulations are dramatically different from the kind of regulations we had last year, five years ago or 10 years ago.
“While we have not turned the ship of state around, we have taken the first steps towards tackling climate change in Ireland.”
Mary O’Rourke (FF, Longford Westmeath) said: “The debate on climate change is painted in such biblical terms that one wonders how could one woman unplugging a kettle have any bearing on what will happen if we are all going to be submerged beneath the waters.”
