Politics can be heartbreaking at times. Last Saturday evening, a short message came through from a Green Party colleague who had given his all over the last five years. His three words, “l’ve been eliminated”, spoke volumes for how we all felt.
However, being in a democracy somehow helps you get over that feeling. You accept the majority opinion of your peers but draw strength from those who did vote for you. The privilege of being involved in the whole process allows you to look to come back again, with lessons learned from the school of hard knocks.
One worry from this election is that the environmental agenda we seek to represent might not be able to afford a five-year delay, or that the progress we made in recent years might slow down or come to a stop. The omens in several ways are not good. Many of the candidates who topped the polls were those who have been the most climate sceptical. Sinn Féin seems to have given up on climate ambition altogether. Several of the Independents define themselves by their opposition to the green transition.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are very sensitive to losing votes to those groupings, and in recent months they too have been reading the public mood and scaling back on their own level of environmental ambition. In our last Cabinet meeting they shelved two key memos, one on sustainable transport and another on clean energy, that had been years in preparation. It was like sending a signal to the Civil Service: we’re taking our foot off the pedal from here.
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During the election campaign they also sent out clear messages that their preference would be to enter a coalition with the Labour Party. The only interpretation is that they think Labour might be slightly less demanding partners than we have been over the last four years. That impression of course puts the Labour Party in a real bind. Do they or the Social Democrats go into government now to deliver on the climate ambition they attest to, or do they wait for a more ideal coalition arrangement?
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My advice would be that we can’t really afford to delay on climate action. The actions required also bring real social justice in their wake. Promoting public transport and active travel delivers both social and health gains. The carbon tax delivers most benefit to those on the lowest incomes in the poorest homes. Regenerative agriculture will bring a better future for rural Ireland. Creating new housing in attractive environments with a strong sense of community is what the Left should be about, and can be delivered at scale in the next five years.
You are not going against the tide when you are fighting for climate action in government. The clean energy revolution is well under way and is not going to stop. Europe and Ireland are not going to regain competitiveness from burning imported fossil fuels. The only strategy that gives us real economic security and well-paid jobs is the “Green new deal” that has been legislated for in Europe and which the new Commission is now looking to deliver.
While the world is beset by populist politics, outrageous wars and economic injustice, there is a path to peace that a small island like ours can promote to real effect. The Paris Agreement should be our North Star. Many development agencies criticised the COP29 deal done in Baku as a betrayal – but delivering a “no deal” would have been a real defeat for the Paris Agreement. We did get 195 countries to commit to raising the $1.3 trillion a year for climate investment in developing countries. That investment is the best way to reduce conflict and forced migration. It means we spend less on weapons of war and more on the UN Sustainable Development goals.
Is it not better to take on that responsibility by making sure that the centre holds left, rather than letting it veer off to the right, which is the other option the electorate has delivered in the last few days?
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The environmental agenda can still also hold, because despite the Green Party’s electoral reverse, research tells us that the Irish people do want to play their part in addressing the biggest challenge of our time.
The tide of public thinking in this regard has, however, been out in recent years. Delivering change is hard and rarely immediately popular. It will in time turn, perhaps all the faster under a Trump presidency in the US or should the new Irish government turn their backs on what has been started here.
It continues to be our job to remind everyone of that and give our view on every legislative and executive act. We know the system inside out, from the bottom up, and we will put that experience to good use now. I am glad Roderic O’Gorman will be doing so from within Dáil Éireann.
Eamon Ryan is Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport
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