Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/Ugis Riba

Ireland ranked second worst in Europe for tackling climate change

Ireland and Poland rank lowest because of their opposition to climate action nationally and in the EU.

IRELAND IS THE second-worst performing EU country for tackling climate change, according to a report published today by Climate Action Network Europe.

The report, which looks at how countries perform in reaching their climate and energy targets, ranked Ireland 28th, with a score of 21%.

Ireland and Poland (16%) rank lowest because of their stiff opposition to climate action nationally and in the EU, the report said.

PastedImage-23485 Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe. Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.

According to the report, Ireland is set to miss its 2020 climate and renewable energy targets and is also off-course for its 2030 emissions target.

Emissions from the transport and agriculture sectors are increasing significantly. Ireland has failed to prepare effective policies to align near-term climate action with EU and Paris Agreement commitments.

Ireland will face annual non-compliance costs of around €500 million if substantial efforts are not made to cut emissions.

CAN Europe says that to improve its ranking the Irish government need to radically revise its National Mitigation Plan, currently subject to legal challenge, and immediately put in place measures in the transport and agriculture sectors.

In its National Mitigation Plan, the Irish government said it was “committed to reducing emissions and building a climate resilient low-carbon transport sector by 2050″.

The report also recommends that Ireland end the use of peat in electricity generation by 2019 and coal use by 2025.

”Ireland needs to join the group of progressive EU Member States calling for increased EU climate ambition and deliver urgent, near-term emissions reduction,” the report said.

Wendel Trio, Director of CAN Europe said the lack of willingness to act on climate among all other member states is underwhelming.

While all EU countries signed up to the Paris Agreement, most are failing to work towards delivering on its objectives. Countries urgently need to improve their ranking by speaking out and acting in favour of more ambitious climate and energy policies and targets domestically and at EU-level.

The five EU countries that score the highest are Sweden (77%), Portugal (66%), France (65%), the Netherlands (58%) and Luxembourg (56%), because they are advocating for more ambitious climate targets at EU level.

Sweden is ranked second because it is on track to meet its domestic climate and energy targets for 2020, and it has a high share of renewable energy.

The top position of the ranking is unoccupied because all EU countries are off target and are failing to increase their climate action in line with the Paris Agreement goal according to CAN Europe.

No single EU country is performing sufficiently in both ambition and progress in reducing carbon emissions. Countries can and must to do more to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

CAN Europe recommend that the EU, like all other countries in the world, needs to urgently and substantially increase its action, well beyond the currently agreed targets.

”Adopting the Paris Agreement in 2015 and committing to pursue efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C was a major step forward in safeguarding our planet’s future. Yet the contributions proposed at the Paris talks are nowhere close enough to keep temperature rise below this threshold,” the report said.

Citizens Assembly 

The CAN Europe report has recommended that the Irish government incorporate the recommendations made by the Citizens Assembly on how Ireland should tackle climate change.

The “How the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change” report made 13 recommendations including higher taxes and increased public transport and a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

CAN Europe say that the EU must start preparing for the next climate summit COP24 when countries are expected to commit to putting forward more ambitious 2030 climate targets by 2020.

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan has said that the report released today is ”a shameful indictment of this Government’s climate record.”

We need to change tack to restore our green reputation and put us onto a more sustainable path.

Ryan said that the Dáil reform committee has agreed to the establishment of a new Oireachtas Committee to consider the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change.

”We want that Committee to focus on what the public sector can do and to influence the drafting of the new National Energy and Climate plan, which we have to present to the EU in the next year.”

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 135 comments
Close
135 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Treston
    Favourite Robert Treston
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:06 AM

    Tax Tax Tax with no solutions

    480
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergus Flanagan
    Favourite Fergus Flanagan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:13 AM

    @Robert Treston: Those are recommendations. It’s up to the national government to come up with the effective policies to achieve the goals, be it with taxes or other incentives/disincentives.

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Dubogovik
    Favourite Frank Dubogovik
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:06 PM

    @Robert Treston: the green party had a brief taste of power…their solution to everything was tax and more tax…where did it get them at the end of the day?

    187
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eddie O'Neill
    Favourite Eddie O'Neill
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:44 PM

    “Ireland will face annual non-compliance costs of around €500 million if substantial efforts are not made to cut emissions”

    Another on the list of government failures and as usual somebody should be sacked for incompetence and/or inaction.

    We do the work, we create the wealth, they squander it – and around it goes, year in year out and us sheep just watch on while they make eejits of us.

    Do you think we’d have 160 odd politicians sitting on their backsides day in day out if their performance was linked to their pay or their pension, not a chance, there is your solution, we must get tough with them now.

    72
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:06 PM

    @Frank Dubogovik: actually the green party did bring in very positive legislation on this issue. The carbon tax was used to fund the home renovation scheme which saw tens of thousands being better insulated and hundreds of jobs being created, the new car tax system reduced emissions by 25%, the new housing regulations are saving people who live in houses built after 2008 hundreds of euros in energy bills annually because of the requirement for huge amounts of insulation and a form of renewable energy. They invested in electric car infrastructure, all during the biggest economic crash in the history of the state which they didn’t cause. If they were in power during any other period in our history people would look a lot more favourably on their actions
    Their focused on policies like the housing regs that were good for everyone and planned long term but it appears with the high support of independents that many people only seem to care about themselves and their local community ignoring the environmental crash that’s heading our way fast

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:08 PM

    @Robert Treston: what are your solutions to this problem. Do you think that future generations and the tens of millions of people in the Third World who are already suffering from droughts caused by climate change will be happy with your response?

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Branislav Lichtsteiner
    Favourite Branislav Lichtsteiner
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:47 PM

    You’re absolutely right Marcus. In the grander scheme of things future generations will look back at our generation as selfish mass consumers, who knew they were destroying the environment but did nothing because they seen it as another tax or what not. Considering the forecast for the damage that will be done to the environment and future generations our excuses are will be seen as trivial.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute psychiatrist
    Favourite psychiatrist
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:13 PM

    @Marcus Briody: True, I renovated my bathroom, thanks for the grant!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Dubogovik
    Favourite Frank Dubogovik
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 6:00 PM

    @Marcus Briody: the greens in power were a total disaster…they sleepwalked this Nation to the precipace of the cliff and grabbed big pensions as the IMF were coming to town…zerp policies/ zero ideas and they got what they deserved

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul A Whelan
    Favourite Paul A Whelan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 7:50 PM

    @Robert Treston: the esb are largely responsible. Irish private solar panel and wind turbine users are not allowed feed excess back into the grid.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GO GREEN
    Favourite GO GREEN
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:09 AM

    When you look at Scotland which has a similar climate to Ireland and now a world leader in renewable energy – and in 2017 with 68.1 per cent of Scottish energy needs met without fossil fuels.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/renewable-energy-electricity-wind-wave-scotland-climate-change-oil-gas-a8283166.html

    207
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon O Flaherty
    Favourite Simon O Flaherty
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:20 AM

    @GO GREEN: nimbyism is Ireland’s problem. We would sooner keep Ireland in the 19th century rather than modernise it. We should have high speed rail network between the major city’s. The way seai do grants is a joke also. Wind and solar should have decent incentives but instead you have to jump through hoops to get a small grant. This country needs to be dragged into the twenty first century.

    298
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GO GREEN
    Favourite GO GREEN
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:24 AM

    @Simon O Flaherty: True and there are a lot of propaganda against wind energy – I have heard people saying they think wind farms give people cancer – when it is the cleanest form of energy there is – though building wind farms in forests and cutting down the trees or building on bogs that are carbon sinks should not happen.

    122
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hughes
    Favourite Peter Hughes
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:33 AM

    @GO GREEN: These people who say such things are what are known as morons who believe any crap they hear, fumes from vehicles are known causes of cancer as are alcohol and fags but these won’t register in the brain of these clowns.

    54
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cosmological
    Favourite Cosmological
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:59 AM

    @GO GREEN: Relevant link, I’m still astonished that, despite overwhelming evidence, we still don’t recognize the genuine threat to the very survival of our species.

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GO GREEN
    Favourite GO GREEN
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:09 PM

    @Cosmological: Indeed its a climate emergency with Arctic disappearing before our very eyes and Big Oil using the melt down to drill for even more oil in the Arctic and Antarctica tripling amount of ice loss to 2.7 trillions tons – without sea ice to reflect heat back into atmosphere we have created a feedback loop of ever rising temperatures extreme hurricanes fueled by warmers waters super widlfires never seen before etc

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:34 PM

    @GO GREEN:
    not disagreeing with your point but the reason they often have to look to forests and bogs for windmill sites is they tend to be the most isolated locations and the only places they can get PP.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Quare Fella
    Favourite The Quare Fella
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:10 AM

    Irish government has a lot of plans set for 2040-2050.
    In other words, let others handle it because we won’t be in government.

    168
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Míleata Watch Co
    Favourite Míleata Watch Co
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:10 AM

    Another excuse to tax us more.

    170
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Huston
    Favourite David Huston
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:20 PM

    @Míleata Watch Co:
    Cow tax is what we need

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mc Donagh
    Favourite John Mc Donagh
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:54 PM

    @David Huston: No No we need more bulshit!

    24
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:15 PM

    @Míleata Watch Co: so we should just do nothing while hundreds of thousands of people die annually from droughts caused by climate change and our planet earth slowly dies. Its people like you and those who liked your comment who are destroying any hope for a stable climate for the children born today. No new taxes so that we can all have a little more spending money versus the survival of the human species seems to be your argument am I right?

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ole dan tucker
    Favourite Ole dan tucker
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:59 PM

    @David Huston: add it to the litre of milk

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anton Dec
    Favourite Anton Dec
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:25 PM

    @Míleata Watch Co:
    Utterly unnecessary comment. I notice a serious presence of posters who have an agenda that supersedes the point of the article.
    You’re one.
    Give us whatever your problem is straight out. Just so that every time I see a post from you I don’t have to waste any time.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:36 PM

    @Anton Dec:
    Welcome to the journal, party hack central.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niallers
    Favourite Niallers
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 10:53 AM

    You can’t expect the farmers party to tackle the cow in the room.

    238
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Huston
    Favourite David Huston
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:19 PM

    @Niallers: it’s a big scam, now we have a push for electric cars,and where will the electricity come from

    67
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Devlin
    Favourite Stephen Devlin
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:37 PM

    @David Huston: Charging over nighttime when the energy is wasted the most. It should also spark people into investing in solar / wind to dilute the demand on the grid.

    36
    See 10 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerald Broflovski
    Favourite Gerald Broflovski
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:54 PM

    @Stephen Devlin: Solar is great in sunny nations such as Portugal or Spain – their peak demand occurs in summer with large air conditioning loads. Ours occurs in winter with lighting and heating on the dark and short days. Solar would be sub-optimal for us. Offshore wind is the answer

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Devlin
    Favourite Stephen Devlin
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:00 PM

    @Gerald Broflovski: If you have the right panels solar will work all year round even with the clouds, granted as you say it will not be optimal but may be sufficient for some applications.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:11 PM

    @David Huston: 27% of our electricity came from renewable sources last year, wind is the strongest at night so charging at night massively increases the chances that the energy is sustainable

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cormac Ryan
    Favourite Cormac Ryan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:13 PM

    @Gerald Broflovski: Why not on shore wind?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerald Broflovski
    Favourite Gerald Broflovski
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:22 PM

    @Cormac Ryan: Planning challenges and objections but onshore is very inconsistent. I think it was back in 2010 there was a day where our entire demand was met by wind power. Later on the same day less than 5% was met. Offshore wind is fairly consistent with no drag from trees or hills

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cormac Ryan
    Favourite Cormac Ryan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:34 PM

    @Gerald Broflovski: how much more does it cost to erect a wind turbine on the sea floor than on land?

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niallers
    Favourite Niallers
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:35 PM

    @David Huston: Electric cars push the pollution back the supply chain. Electric cars have no exhaust fumes. Much better for health than breathing in fumes from internal combustion engine exhaust.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute P.J. Nolan
    Favourite P.J. Nolan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:40 PM

    @Cormac Ryan:
    Spot on.
    Off shore turbines are 50% more efficient than on shore, for the reasons Gerald outlined bot they are 300% more expensive to build AND maintain.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
    Favourite Patrick J. O'Rourke
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 8:22 PM

    @Stephen Devlin: As solar technology improves the key to household supply is microgeneration. Of course energy suppliers don’t share that vision as their current financial model.is existential. Most if us have a roof on our house that does nothing. Many have fields that could be solar farms and better for the environment that toxic sitka forestry etc. Then there is microhydro Local is the way forward for much of the country and away from the grid which should just service cities and industry. Its not that far away really if we are allowed to escape their clutches.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus Mac
    Favourite Seamus Mac
    Report
    Jun 19th 2018, 11:30 PM

    @Patrick J. O’Rourke: rainwater harvesting for toilets & washing machines would also be a great help

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Clifden ecoCamping
    Favourite Clifden ecoCamping
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:16 PM

    Delighted to have taken the initiative some 6 years ago to be climate neutral. The carbon emissions from our eco certified tourism business is100% neutralized on the global level. Unfortunately we are the only tourism business in Ireland to do this
    Clifden eco Beach Camping and Caravanning Park .

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:12 AM

    The EU can go away with themselves! I will continue to burn Dayzel for me tractor, drive a big Diesel SUV the 1km to the shops, cut the turf from the protected Bogs for me fire, and not recycle any household waste!

    140
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:33 AM

    @neilo: Or dump the old fridge down a country lane way, burn the old car tyres too boss!

    65
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom McHugh
    Favourite Tom McHugh
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:10 PM

    @Dotty Dunleary: and build my children’s house in a ribbon development. Oh my word, did I just say that.

    7
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:15 PM

    @Tom McHugh: No sure once it’s got a big coal fire and little or no insulation it will be graaand..

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Dickson
    Favourite David Dickson
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:41 PM

    @Dotty Dunleary: instead of using your tractor take out your dinosaur with you.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:02 PM

    @David Dickson: Can’t, it’s remains are providing fossil fuels for us all to burn in our fires and engines..

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Do the Bort man
    Favourite Do the Bort man
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:34 PM

    @Dotty Dunleary: ok I won’t use “Dayzel” in my tractor and Jeep. Should I burn far more petrol instead?

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:52 PM

    @Do the Bort man: And home heating oil…

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honeybee
    Favourite Honeybee
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:05 AM

    The recommendations are ‘higher taxes’ , ‘increased public transport’, ‘a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture’, hmmmmmmm, I guess we are going to fail again at the COP24 summit.

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dick dastardly
    Favourite dick dastardly
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:20 AM

    Cows are by far our biggest polluters on this island but hey don’t let that get in the way of them cunning farmers making money

    92
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerald Broflovski
    Favourite Gerald Broflovski
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:56 PM

    @dick dastardly: Or bringing millions into our economy by exporting products as far away as China

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Denham
    Favourite Peter Denham
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:09 PM

    @Dave Johnston: or you could not get rid of them all and cap them at a reasonable amount? Not exactly a genius yourself.

    8
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Do the Bort man
    Favourite Do the Bort man
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:33 PM

    @Peter Denham: What is a reasonable amount?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Denham
    Favourite Peter Denham
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:17 PM

    @Do the Bort man: something less than an unsustainable increase despite the fact we are pathetically failing to meet EU targets.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Do the Bort man
    Favourite Do the Bort man
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:55 PM

    @Peter Denham: Beef and Dairy farms in Ireland are very sustainable. The increase in the national herd is only around 3-4% since the EU got rid of milk quotas. My idea of an unsustainable figure would be if we were not able to produce enough grass for cattle to naturally graze in the summer months, like in the large farms in the United States and Canada. We are still using peat fired power stations, and using far too much fossil fuel which is totally unsustainable. I’d start there.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Denham
    Favourite Peter Denham
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 4:22 PM

    @Do the Bort man: perhaps I should have said detrimental to the environment rather than unsustainable. We can’t reconcile increase in beef and dairy production with lowering emissions. You’re right about fossil fuel.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dick dastardly
    Favourite dick dastardly
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 9:45 PM

    @Dave Johnston: did I say anything about getting rid of all the cattle in this country yeah spanner

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Higgins
    Favourite Sean Higgins
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:00 AM

    Looks like we are improving since we were bottom of the table in your last report………..

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:17 AM

    The Paris agreement is dead in the water. Without the US subsidizing the deal, it is dead in the water.

    Move on…

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:19 AM

    Climate Change – The Great Global Shakedown

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:29 AM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Nice change of tactics. No science denial or silly red herrings so far today.

    32
    See 25 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:58 AM

    @SteoG: Steo, this article does not relate to the science of climate change. It relates to the concurrent Shakedown of the People associated with climate change.

    Hence, my post.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:59 AM

    @SteoG: Although, I still see you are unwilling to interact with the comment I made. You do know that moving the goalposts is just as fallacious as red herrings….

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom McHugh
    Favourite Tom McHugh
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:19 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: You are not wrong on this one. The concept of fear and selling of plenary indulgences is more than one thousand years old. As long as the same companies responsible for the marketing and packaging of the worlds top brands are responsible for selling us the attendant guilt complex there will never be a solution just a never ending stream of diatribe.
    That said we are in the process of destroying our world and probably accelerating our extinction. One can only hope that some natural catastrophy saves us from our own demise.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:29 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Nice of you to admit your red herring tactics. I agree that you are drawing attention by moving the goal posts. All deniers do it. Of course you never deal with the facts of the matter.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:19 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: dead like the human species because of the selfish attitudes of people like you. Cc deniers are a combination of sociopaths and conspiracy cult members either way they are a waste of space and should be imprisoned for crimes against humanity instead they spread their lies while poor children in the Third World die

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:02 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: It is obvious that you are referring to yourself with the description of the rock. Even a secondary school first year would understand the true nature of the debate. Deniers like you prefer to deal in your own vile fantasy worlds. What other falsehoods do you peddle?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:03 PM

    @SteoG: You don’t seem to understand it, Dumb as a Rock Steo…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:05 PM

    @SteoG: I’ve made a comment about the Paris Climate accord being dead in the water…you completely ignored that point. Sorry, you fail at logic in a debate, Dumb as a Rock…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:07 PM

    @SteoG: I suppose you agree with your buddy about locking people up for crimes against humanity for having a different viewpoint…That’s about sums up all ye have to offer in a debate…

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:08 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Making silly childish personal attacks on me really shows your true nature.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:13 PM

    @SteoG: You are well able to throw out personal insults instead of engaging yourself, Steo. Don’t give it if you are not willing to take it..

    If you look over our debates on the various issues, you have questioned my intellect on a few occasions. I respond in kind, Dumb as a Rock…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:26 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Now you’re making false accusations. I am not bothered by your childish attacks I am just highlighting them. Maybe you need to express them as they boost your little ego and filter your anger. Honestly they go right over my head.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:29 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: So you admit that you are a troll.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:31 PM

    Here you go…our first interaction…I’m the James Comey account…

    http://www.thejournal.ie/antarctica-ice-4069940-Jun2018/

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:32 PM

    @SteoG: No my James Comey account was reported and banned. You probably reported it while starting the personal attacks…you sad man…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 4:23 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: You took offence, I made a witty remark at your witty name nothing more. Are you really that sad.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 4:31 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: I just highlighted that you are trolling. Which is true. Maybe you should reflect on your use of denigration and profane language. Or you can keep blaming everyone else. I gave you a link to a YouTube page that explains the science in layman’s language. Still you persist with the nonsense.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Walt Jabsco
    Favourite Walt Jabsco
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 4:36 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd:
    So “James”, are you still trying to make out that there’s no such thing as consensus in science??

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:34 PM

    @Walt Jabsco: Yes, that’s actually not a strange position, Walt. Consensus and settled positions are nonsense ideas in science. Think about all the major ideas that have led to progress since the 1500’s. All of those ideas ran against what was supposed to be “consensus” positions.

    Consensus proves or disproves nothing.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:40 PM

    @SteoG: Our second debate, Steo.

    http://www.thejournal.ie/climate-change-rising-sea-levels-4069329-Jun2018/

    You do realize that if you believe my positions are wrong, you are more than welcome to debate the positions. Point out where I am wrong in what I say. Don’t shift the goal posts, don’t put words in my mouth. If you can’t debate on the point I make, don’t bother entering the debate…Simple.

    And don’t think you can go around insulting people and not expect the, to insult back…Look at our second debate. Do your insults reflect your nature as you say my insults reflect mine? Or is it only when someone insults you that the standard applies?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:43 PM

    @Walt Jabsco: So the idea that a 97% consensus on climate change exists means absolutely nothing in science. Nada, nothing, Zilch.

    Ptolemy And Newton had much greater than 97% consensus for their theories…

    It means nothing…

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:45 PM

    @Walt Jabsco: When you start providing consensus as a proof of something, you are moving away from scientific method and into the realm of faith and religion…

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Walt Jabsco
    Favourite Walt Jabsco
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 6:02 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd:
    Nobody is claiming that consensus = proof, but you’re denying that the concept of consensus even exists in science, which betrays your complete lack of scientific knowledge.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 6:42 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Again you took offence there is nothing referring personally to you. There is nothing offensive there. Now I will pull anyone who makes an ignorant unscientific claim. You cannot just copy and paste something that is not credible on a subject that you cléir don’t understand and expect not to be challenged. Scientific facts cannot be challenged by opinions. If you really want to know what you are talking about take the time and watch Potholer54 on YouTube

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O'Nilbud
    Favourite Sean O'Nilbud
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 6:57 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: You’re a moron, you pathetic illiterate fool.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hughes
    Favourite Peter Hughes
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:38 AM

    Another failure fro FF/FG, the list keeps growing and people keep voting for them, lets face it we deserve all we get in this excuse for a country, too many people think they are better off with them in power as it suits their cushy little setup, be the rich, farmers, the PS etc…..the only reason we are not Greece is because we are a tax dodge for large companies……as soon as they go we will all be back to the horse and cart.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dotty Dunleary
    Favourite Dotty Dunleary
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:52 AM

    @Peter Hughes: Just try suggesting that the Green Party get more seats/influence in the next Dail and watch them go wild on here!
    Ohh…They told us to go buy Diesel cars!

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:09 PM

    This group of fine Gael politicians are the most environmentally destructive in the history of the state. Whether its heather Humphries destroying our hedgerows and birdlife with her heritage Bill, Simon Coveney recommending that we sell off all our forestry, the decision to keep subsidizing the peat electricity plants, not to ban microbeads, to not support deposit schemes for our bottles and plastics, increase our cattle herd by 300,000 knowing that this would lead to massive fines for our emmisions… every decision that involves doing something to help the environment these guys do the opposite.
    This comes down to their blind support for free market economics which has also resulted in the housing crisis. This ideology only cares about the short term and individuals, especially those with lots of capital. It was the reason for the crash in 08, if fg had been in power during the boom the results would have been the same because both fg,ff sing off the same free market hymn sheet
    The Nordic countries have shown that you can have a stable economy which encourages free enterprise while also caring about environmental and social issues but this involves politicians actively participating in how decisions are made. Here fg,ff offload responsibilities to semi states and organisations like the HSE and look at the mess that has created https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/26/were-doomed-mayer-hillman-on-the-climate-reality-no-one-else-will-dare-mention

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:16 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: More childish personal attacks, really!

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Favourite Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:28 PM

    @SteoG: You are well able for personal attacks yourself Steo. Your first reply to me on this site was a unsolicited personal attack. Likewise, Marcus’s first reply to me was a personal attack.

    Now you are complaining about me responding in kind. You really are as Dumb as a Rock…

    2
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute SteoG
    Favourite SteoG
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:30 PM

    @Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd: Who’s complaining. I am just highlighting your very nature.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dermot Lane
    Favourite Dermot Lane
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:18 AM

    This is going to cost us millions of Euro in fines

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Devlin
    Favourite Stephen Devlin
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:49 PM

    @Dermot Lane: Shure we’re loaded

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute mick scanlan
    Favourite mick scanlan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:27 PM

    @Dermot Lane: take it out of td s pensions

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daniel Donovan
    Favourite Daniel Donovan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:52 AM

    There are more effective measures that can be taken without taking the lazy option and taxing everything.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:22 PM

    @Daniel Donovan: go on tell us these options and how they will be paid for, should we use the money from health or housing? The vast majority of the people in the citizens assembly agreed with increased taxes after looking at the facts

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony Gallagher
    Favourite Anthony Gallagher
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:07 PM

    Government failure on so many levels .its a disgrace we have ignored the problem for so long ,too busy setting up quangoes and filling them with insiders .we could easily start with the transport industry taxis and buses should all be electric or hybrid .the offshore wind industry has never gotten on its feet .Time to take the bull by the horns ,incentives to go green must be much more rewarding .

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Le Blanc
    Favourite Tony Le Blanc
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:56 AM

    Yet SEAI has managed to spend over 1/4 billion EURO of taxpayer money to date. Go figure?

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Slater
    Favourite Kevin Slater
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:24 PM

    Too much revenue for the greedy govt from oil. Not enough from renewables. That’s why We’re there

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Carroll
    Favourite Darren Carroll
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:19 PM

    “CAN europe recomends that the EU like all other countries in the world”, the EU is not a country

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bart
    Favourite Bart
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:07 PM

    So we are all agreed that humans cause climate change? Baa baa baa sheepeople

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O'Nilbud
    Favourite Sean O'Nilbud
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 6:59 PM

    @Bart: Your lack of education and sheer stupidity are showing. Why did you think an education was optional?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam Byrne
    Favourite Liam Byrne
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:04 AM

    I hope the EU fine the shit out of us. That Apple tax won’t last very long.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:31 PM

    @Liam Byrne: why ?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Maher
    Favourite Michael Maher
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:28 PM

    Ireland is too small to cause climate change more bull…. from those who make money from the climate change hype,
    Unfortunately we have no with the guts to make a case for our Island against our EU masters,
    Look at the countries who are making the wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels is climate change not in their interest…….Climate change is big business for the clever ones

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O'Nilbud
    Favourite Sean O'Nilbud
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 7:00 PM

    @Michael Maher: Nothing to do with you so.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Maher
    Favourite Michael Maher
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 11:59 PM

    @Sean O’Nilbud: Or you Seanie

    1
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Arfas
    Favourite Arfas
    Report
    Jun 19th 2018, 10:26 AM

    @Michael Maher: and tell us how you defend yourself against the chem trails and mind waves. Can’t be forgetting those.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Matthieu Osborne
    Favourite Matthieu Osborne
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:20 PM

    This means nothing. The only reason we are ranked so low is because of agriculture and how we have double the amount of cattle in the country compared to our small population. It is not representative at all. Compare it to the likes of France who have almost 19 million cattle compared to our 7 million but their population is much greater (67 million vs. 5 million). Other European countries have much higher urban populations.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mc Donagh
    Favourite John Mc Donagh
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:56 PM

    I saw two frogs yesterday, who should I notify?

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Q8K9dOAu
    Favourite Q8K9dOAu
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 2:00 PM

    “Ryan said that the Dáil reform committee has agreed to the establishment of a new Oireachtas Committee to consider the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change.” – Reminds me of that scene in The Life of Brian

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Connor Barry
    Favourite Connor Barry
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:25 PM

    … fines of €500m …. PER YEAR (from 2020)! Could the article be amended just to reflect that? Estimates have been 500m – 800m. For relativity, €700m is about what we currently spend (excluding payroll/capex) on building/repairing schools every year.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:45 PM

    On 21.10.2017 renewables provided 60.34% of the nervy in ireland. On 23.05.2018 renewable provided 5.48% a couple of random examples of wind energy generation and it’s issues

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcus Briody
    Favourite Marcus Briody
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 1:25 PM

    @ed w: 27% of our electricity came from renewable energy last year mostly wind. The Germans have shown that a combination of wind and solar only requires 5% from other sources and we have better wind than them

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O'Nilbud
    Favourite Sean O'Nilbud
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 7:02 PM

    @ed w: So you’re complaining about how the wind works because you’re not too bright.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian
    Favourite Adrian
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:50 PM

    I bet Ireland is second worst in a lot of other things too but this is the one this joke of a gov sees as harmless enough for the Irish public to see!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kerrie Roche
    Favourite Kerrie Roche
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 4:36 PM

    We could use all the sh!t ! As a heat source , use something that’s here plentiful and by product of agriculture as renewable energy , create Jobs too! Ditto with recycling, why not set up plants to reuse plastics, byproduct is used as new road surfaces,.. instead of paying other countries to take our mess , keep it use it.. we were first country to bring in plastic bag levy, also smoking ban, why not clean up our country ,

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bobby mcgee
    Favourite Bobby mcgee
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 7:33 PM

    You do know the stock photo image you used of cooling towers with “smoke” coming out is just steam.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam Rogers
    Favourite Liam Rogers
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 7:56 PM

    Climate change is a politically engineered talking point. Oh lets put a tax on that. Yeah coz taxing things will help the world.. no it helps those gangsters pockets get bigger

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Windy Atlantic Way
    Favourite Windy Atlantic Way
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 10:09 PM

    @Liam Rogers: good on you, truest comment so far to this article.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute mick scanlan
    Favourite mick scanlan
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:23 PM

    ireland really cares you can claim vat back on diesel fuel for cars vans if you are vat registered as most manufactureres now deem them too polutant would you not be encouraged to buy hybrids by allowing companies to claim vat on petrol ?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 12:46 PM

    At the moment it’s 46 % renewable

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Hoodedman
    Favourite The Hoodedman
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:55 PM

    They need to set up a task force to look into it, and spend millions in doing so and then throw their hats at it when someone objects.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nicholas Grubb
    Favourite Nicholas Grubb
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 9:07 PM

    A really big issue here is the gross abuse of the PSO levy funding. Approximately 100m. of this or 25% has been long term contracted to keeping the old peat stations open. It wouldn’t be too bad, if it was native biomass that was being used, but no, it is being brought in from the Americas and SE Asia and then trucked up to the old power stations which are operating at about 30% efficiency. What a carbon foot print that is. What we were meant to have was a sustainable native biomass industry, providing feedstock for hundreds of district heating plants and CHP ( combined heat and power ) in larger centres, all operating at about 80% efficiency. This abuse is absolute madness. If we were doing it properly, we could be claiming carbon credits which could be put against our farming activities. Likewise we could be claiming a another massive whack of carbon credit by going for Constructed Wetlands, which as well as sequestering a very large amount of carbon, would also be dealing with our run off problem of phosphate and nitrates.
    We have got over 300,000 kms of hedgerow that could be coppiced on a seven year cycle instead of being hammered to the scut annually, at massive benefit to our wildlife. 22,000 kms of river and stream over cover which is destroying our inland fisheries, large amounts of forest waste, invasive species and much much more. Think of the economic benefit to the rural economy. But no, keeping a few jobs going in the Laois Offally constituency is more important, even if we loose a potential billion a year in the process.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GO GREEN
    Favourite GO GREEN
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 10:58 PM

    @Nicholas Grubb: All good points – the ongoing relentless destruction of the ancient hedges is happening throughout the country – if its not the diggers digging them up -they are being sprayed – depressing.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Maher
    Favourite Michael Maher
    Report
    Jun 19th 2018, 12:09 AM

    @GO GREEN: And our mountains. landscape and bogs are destroyed with thousands of tons of concrete, steel and electric cables ,substations in the form of whats called wind turbines.

    1
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GO GREEN
    Favourite GO GREEN
    Report
    Jun 19th 2018, 1:21 AM

    @Michael Maher: As I said in my earlier post I do not agree with wind farms in forested areas or bogs that act as a carbon sink. More on shore wind farms are needed.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute wattsed
    Favourite wattsed
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 3:35 PM

    A potential fine of 500 million a year ?
    How come our emissions are so high when this government is increasingly blowing smoke up citizens backsi*es ?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Range Rover
    Favourite Range Rover
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 9:29 PM

    Woohoo 2nd lads 2nd, we’re all set for the World Cup 2019!!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caroline O'Rourke
    Favourite Caroline O'Rourke
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 10:13 PM

    The government, our government pay a fine each year rather than make the environment more sustainable. It’s a big con job!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Maher
    Favourite Michael Maher
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 5:30 PM

    No one

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute mahonez
    Favourite mahonez
    Report
    Jun 18th 2018, 10:10 PM

    Watch National Geographic documentary “before the flood”, it’s on YouTube. It’s excellent.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      News in 60 seconds