NGO tells Dáil hearing: think about climate change like Brexit

Friends of the Earth
For immediate release
30 January 2018

Government should treat Citizens' Assembly recommendations on Climate Change with the same serious as the Assembly's recommendations on the 8th Amendment

Friends of the Earth will tell an Oireachtas Committee this evening that politicians should approach climate change the same way they approach Brexit. The Oireactas Committee on climate action is holding its hearings on climate progress, and will hear from the EPA, the Climate Council, Prof. John Sweeney, the IFA, and the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, of which Friends of the Earth is a member. Commenting before the hearing, Director of Friends of the Earth, Oisin Coghlan said:

"Politicians should approach climate change like they approach Brexit: an external threat that is only beginning and will unfold over years and decades, that poses risks to all parts of Irish society, that requires action now from all sectors of the economy, coordination across all Government departments and political leadership from the Taoiseach on down, working with all parties in the Dáil. Equally like Brexit, the sooner we act, the more we prepare, the better off we will be, and there could even be opportunities for Ireland in the transition to a climate safe future".

Speaking for the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Mr. Coghlan will will also tell the hearing that:

• The recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on climate change should treated with the same seriousness as the Assembly's recommendations on the 8th amendment. An all-party committee should consider them and report to the Oireachtas and the Government before the summer recess.

• The National Mitigation Plan is not fit for purpose and Minister Naughten, who has described it as "a living document", should immediately begin the formal process to revise it in light of the advice of the EPA and the Climate Advisory Council.

• Budget 2019 is an opportunity to look a significant increase in the carbon tax offset by decreases in other taxes.

The slides of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition presentation to the Committee hearing are online here. The hearing begins at 5pm and you can watch online here.

ENDS