The nation of Ireland has long been a big, big ethusiastic supporter of Doing Something when it comes to anthropogenic climate change, both at the governmental and citizen levels. Both levels love the Paris Climate Agreement, and the government, including current and past Prime Ministers, is one of the staunchest backers in the EU and the UN for Doing Something. Well, how about this, from the uber-Leftist UK Guardian
Ireland’s staggering hypocrisy on climate change
The national climate policy is a greenwash – the country is certain to miss its 2020 emissions target and still handing out drilling licences
On the face of it, Ireland appears to be acting on climate change. Last year it appointed its first ever “climate action ministerâ€, and in June it outlawed onshore fracking. What’s more, the telegenic new taoiseach Leo Varadkar dedicated much of the first day of his Cabinet retreat to discussing climate change.
Last week Varadkar introduced Ireland’s first national mitigation plan (NMP) in more than a decade, and said that addressing climate change would “require fundamental societal transformation and, more immediately, allocation of resources and sustained policy change.†If success could be measured simply by repetition – the word “sustainable†appears no fewer than 110 times in the NMP – Ireland would undoubtedly be among the world’s leading countries.
But looks can be deceiving. The promised “fundamental societal transformation†turns out to be a soothing combination of words entirely lacking in substance.
Surprise?
Per capita, Ireland’s emissions are the third highest in the EU, and it is one of only four EU states (alongside Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria) expected to miss its 2020 targets. Things may be about to get a lot worse. With no public announcement, on 11 July Naughten’s department issued a licence permitting oil drilling on the Porcupine Bank off Ireland’s west coast.
Ireland was one of the early Believers, especially as pushed by PM Mary Robinson, who went on to bigger and better things with pushing ‘climate change.’ She’s a big player in the UN IPCC circles, with perhaps more sway than Al Gore. But, is anyone surprised in the least that a nation fails to follow what it says? This is pretty much what happened with almost every nation that was part of the Kyoto Protocol.
Ireland has had some serious economic problems, and while they re working them out somewhat, they still need money. This brings them more money.
The
global warmingclimate change hustle has always been about money. Now, the Irish need more.