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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR said global efforts to tackle and repair a hole in the ozone layer when he was growing up could be replicated now to tackle climate change.
Speaking at the launch of the government’s long-term climate action plan at the Technological University in Dublin, he said growing up, acid rain and damage to the ozone were the biggest issues, but that they were successfully remedied by global action.
“Growing up, for us, the biggest environmental concerns were acid rain and the depletion of the ozone layer,” he said.
“These were real threats, not scare stories and action was taken, on a global scale, and our fears were conquered.
For young people growing up today, one of their greatest fears is that the world will be destroyed in a climate apocalypse.
Varadkar and several government ministers attended the launch this afternoon.
The measures outlined in the action plan follow the recommendations from the citizens’ assembly report which was published last year.
The citizens’ assembly accepted recommendations from members of the public, representative groups and other organisations before delivering its verdict on the measures needed to effect a change in Ireland’s carbon footprint.
The new measures officially announced today include removing petrol and diesel vehicles from Irish roads over the next 11 years, and also moving toward electric-powered vehicles for public transport.
The government outlined plans to more than double the reliance on renewable energy from 30% to 70% and aims to close coal and peat plants.
In agriculture, it wants to expand forestry planting and introduce targeted changes to land management.
Climate change minister Richard Bruton said the new measures are “sensible and fair’ and “most economic” so as to “create the least burden on our people”.
“Ireland is far off course and we are very exposed as a result of that, we must act now to make ourselves resilient,” he said.
The longer we delay making that change the harder it will be in the long run.
“This effort we are making now is integral to the vision the government has set out in project 2040.
“The government will have central responsibly in creating the roadmap to do that,” he added.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “Our approach is not a coercive one rather it is to nudge citizens and businesses to change their behaviour.”
Rural vs Urban
Asked if the new measures would have a disproportionate impact on rural homes than it would on urban ones, Varadkar said the effect would depend on individual households’ circumstances rather than the location of their home in rural or urban areas.
“The impact on individuals, on households, is actually going to be different and it’s not a case of urban versus rural.
“If you’re driving a lot it’s going to impact you more than people who aren’t, but there are lots of people who live in rural Ireland who have a shorter commute.
It’s far too simplistic to say rural-urban… so we really should try and get away from that kind of binary simplicity.
On the effect of farming on carbon emissions, Varadkar said he believed consumers were concerned about the sustainability of the products they buy, and so it is in farmers’ interests to move to sustainable farming.
“A lot of farmers get this already… you have to know your consumer, you have to know your market,” he said.
Consumers want to know that food they’re buying is being produced sustainably.
Challenging
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he welcomed the added attention being given to climate change but said it fell short in some areas.
“There is still a lack of clarity, ambition, and urgency,” he said.
Responding to media reports that vehicles could be barred from urban town centres around Ireland, Independent TD Mattie MCGrath said the new measures look like “an absolute nightmare for rural Ireland”.
“How can any one of us have confidence that these proposals will not hit rural Ireland hardest especially since we are already so badly served with the existing transport network,” he said.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Associations said farmers would respond to the “right incentives” but that the measures would be challenging for them.
“We [...] need to look at policies to ensure that farmers who engage in best practice from an environmental point of view are rewarded,” a statement said.
“We also need to look again at better policies at both national and EU level on renewable energies.”
Sinn Féin’s climate spokesperson Brian Stanley criticised the plans as falling short of what is needed to instigate a positive change.
“The Government does not have an ambitious enough action plan for renewable energy,” he said.
“It contains no commitment to a large-scale capital plan to develop renewable energy like bio-gas, bio-mass, wind, or solar on the scale which is required.”
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wankbag
@kenneth clohessy:
resorting to childish name calling.
@Just Some Guy: In fairness he doesn’t inspire much else. All spin, all image totally lacking in substance.
Fg and their action plans god the tripe that comes from them would make ya blue in the face.lets just look at the coal for one moment ffg were banning all Smokey coal by August now it seems the coal companies are lobbing government to change their minds or they’ll sue them what’s going to happen with oil boilers when the oil companies lobby government to not touch their market they’ll sue them also and what’s the bets ffg will buckle to their demands. No Fg is only going to do one thing and that’s tax the crap out of us.i don’t see any incentives for change here farmers will get off lightly even though it’s their spraying and over farming that’s causing most of the damage keep their voting base strong there,why not introduce biodegradable plastic right across the board. ffg will look after big business were guaranteed of that even though it’s their packaging and chemicals that’s destroying the environment.heatpumps work well in small homes but in bigger houses it’s a costly business where’s the incentive to switch from oil to biomass wood pellet boilers and wood pellet stoves there won’t be any because it all effects oil companies and coal companies who’s going to be able to afford new electric cars after we borrow to do the home’s no incentive there only a scrappage deal.hears how they should start ban oil gas after 5 years introduce decent incentives for heat pumps and biomass boilers.ban all plastic and introduce biodegradable plastic across the board do it now get the ball rolling instead of creeping along at a snails pace this should of all been done 15 years ago reward people for recycling not punish them that’s how you’ll get your change.
@Just Some Guy: Agree,but the shine is going from Leo.Spin and denial of the obvious only goes so far.Leo and his gang of FG spinners are finished.Who we get next is any ones guess.
@Robert Phelan: pardon?
Varadkar is all about the soundbyte.
@Frank Lloyd wright: he’s all about his image, and remember he wasn’t the leader of the party when they formed the last government, always sticks with me that our leader was elected Taoiseach by his party, not us….
@Devilsavocado: completely agree.
@Devilsavocado: not his party but tds who were in his gift for a job. Such a pernicous person
@Miller: t
How do you make yet another new government tax seem more palatable? Just stick the word *carbon* in front of it and Bobs your uncle. It also has the added bonus of sending Joe Public on a guilt trip while they’re being rodgered sideways. If Carlsberg did money grabs…
@Milk The Drones: The reality is the following. To recycle plastic at the moment the supplier/producer pays around 10% of the cost of the actual recycling. Your council pays the rest 90%. Surely we should have a choice higher price or pollution.
Tax, tax, tax on top of tax, double tax, tax plus tax and just for good measure….. you guessed it .. another tax
@paul jones: that’s why I won’t come back
Translated :
Taxes …..
@Willy: it’s a choice. The main suppliers of this contibute 10^ to recycling. Should we applaud this. Or have a choice.
Yesterday’s headline was something about FG being down in the poll. Today, Varadkar springs into action making promises and telling everyone what they want to hear. I don’t believe his lies for a second.
@Disabled Junkie: everyone wants tax increases?
@James Wallace: No. I was referring to climate action.
Will this Tax replace the 8 years old temporary Usc tax ?
Please Mr Varadkar, Your answer to everything is simply more Tax, more money from the people who bailed out everybody who robbed this country.
You and your government do not represent the mainstream tax payer in this country
Call an election and go away.
So 10 years ago we had the greens shouting from the roof top that diesel cars are the way forward, They even had 2/3 litre engines taxed lower than older petrol models half the size know their going after people who went out and bought diesel cars.
@Dave Byrne: no they basically caved onto to ff who saw it as a way of propping up a failing moto trade in the recession
Renewable energy will certainly be a big factor and with Leo and his pals, we will never be short of plenty of wind and hot air, as they proved today. All strategy and goals but no real firm plan to manage it. Changes to farming will probably come about due to pigs flying and pies in the sky!
It doesn’t sound like an action plan, it sounds like going with the flow, there is no real creative initiative here. Stopping the burning of coal in a power plant is common sense. Only new electric vehicles to be sold by 2030, I doubt that is the government putting their foot down, car manufacturers are going down this road anyway as a result it is common sense to install more recharge points. it is really uninspiring. They don’t even know if they’ll have a scrappage scheme, they’ll consider it… Great, brilliant sounds like they mean it when they are all about taking action on…
@Charles McGuire: and they’re planning on building more roads. And chopping down more trees. Environmental plan my arse. Electric cars are not the answer, proper funding for a country wide public transport system that’s cheap and dependable would make more sense. Did they announce a carbon tax for airlines? Or carbon intensive industries?
Leo must have an album coming out soon. Leo and the soundbytes, how to tax your way out..
More diversionary spin to take light of his disgusting treatment of Ruth Morrissey
Yellow Vests required
@M Stuart: There is already a Yellow Vest movement in Ireland, all 10 members have so far been successful at (a) attempting to set fire to a work place with workers inside and (b) blocking the Port Tunnel before heading to the pub, delaying workers from getting home and (c) one of them sat on his motor-cycle helmet outside the Dáil and had a tantrum after none of the lads from the pub showed up for the protest. Basically these bums hate working people.
Jesus it’s only a few years ago people were being offered grants to install/ upgrade your gas boilers & now their telling us they will have to go eventually!
@Colette Kearns: in fairness the grants were to help move to more efficient boilers which was probably a good idea at the time.
GET ON YOUR BIKE LEO
@Thomas Corrigan: Another Taoiseach with no public mandate making a pigs ear out of himself
Unfortunately having worked here in a highly dependent carbon fueled based cement plant for over 22 yrs and for the last 7 yrs worked abroad in some of the largest pollutant countries in the world anything we do as a continent let alone a small island in western Europe is totally meaningless unless the main culprits (China, India, US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE etc etc) are forced to do likewise while admirable as it is we as a nation might as well be pissing against the acid rain Leo was so scared of! Scary shit out there folks and the tree huggers campaigning to shut down Moneypoint and it’s equals is sadly a waste of energy, excuse the pun.
@Ado Smith: Leo the treehugger, who would have thought…
@M Stuart: need a hug?
@Ado Smith: that’s a cope out. So we as a small nation should do nothing. I disagree that’s its no point. We have leaf nations before in democracy, Gay right, etc.. we should continue to let our voice be heard. Ado thank you for your comments
Get yourself a little electric car Taoiseach and leave the bmws for the Gardaí . Lead by example or do you want to wait till your out of office and deny the incoming leader safety that you have become accustom too .
Nice, looks like the house that myself and my wife went to college, worked all of our lives to get a deposit to buy is now seriously devalued as its stone and cant be retrofitted. Maybe ill quit my job and get a house for free. Seems like u do things right u get punished, do nothing at all u get rewarded and looked after
Leo’s 50 ways to kill off those who can’t afford a home over their heads now he wants to make sure if you have a home you will freeze to death in it. Naked populist and nasty man just ask Ruth Morrissey
Joker! Clown ! Do you think we can afford them ? They can’t even pass 400 km. There is no way these cars get recharged in a few minutes. Technology is not ready and only the rich can afford them. It is the BIG EXCUSE to Tax tax tax…
The Acid Rain Hysteria turned out to be natural variation and forest diseases, no correlation between forest damage and air pollution could be shown.
@Owen Logos: acid rain destroyed forests in Scandinavia. the cegb at the time basically retrofitted flue gas desulpherisation which solved the problem. it was easy to solve because british power stations had been built with higher and higher chimneys to.prevent localised air pollution. if Leo thinks reversing climate change will be like that heaven help us.
I’ll mention this aswell, we have the biggest US tech companies here in Ireland, I bet they could come up with some really good solutions to problems to do with climate change, making smarter cities, making traffic control better, but what they have come up with is just crap.
Ryanair Easyjet
Another debt our children is burdened with. Tax tax tax . Thats all they know
Lol.. What a pile of horse manure.
I’m honestly starting to dislike Leo the light head. Post the Green’s election success he’s playing the populist card.
“If you’re driving a lot it’s going to impact you”… he’s gonna come with alternatives right? he is, I know he is.
@thesaltyurchin: Leo the liars solution will be to tell people to live closer to work, he doesn’t miss a trick the smarmy fudger
Never mind the acid rain I think Leo’s on acid
We would be better off tied to the back end of a cow and scuttered to death
@M Stuart: might feel a bit warmer too!
Know what , I’m delighted.
You voted for them so suck it up.
Remember this when you can’t afford to heat your homes or drive a car.
You put them where they are and inflicted them on the rest of us so stew in it !!.
And if you didn’t get off your arse to vote then you have no right to complain.
@tommytukamomo: They are not a government with a mandate from the people. Don’t forget they are a minority government voted by at most 20% of the population. The Greens have 2 x TDs in the Dail and 5% of the local council. This has been cooking for a long time and needs to be stopped asap.
Varadkar: blah blah blah, whatever! Nobodys listening.
He will do what his boss, Dinny, tells him to do.
Trolling Leo isnt the thing here fuknuts. Its the simple fact that every one of ye out there has to do something deliberate every day to alleviate the fact were fu%$#d as a species.
He’s talking about working towards densely populated cities while their housing policies force us to live further from work and commute more.
He is gauging where the public stands before an election is called.
So be it
Will the precious dairy and beef farmers be forced to pay for emissions… doubt so
Bullshit Leo will vote out
Bolloxology
The only thing destroying this country is decisions made by fools like varadkar.
have your say