The Situation in Ireland
Ireland has failed to effectively curb its own emissions and instead continues to allow big business and sections of the agricultural industry (especially the so-called beef barons) to dictate policies that protect their profits.
During the Celtic Tiger period, Irish emissions were well above the Kyoto targets and these emissions only declined with the collapse of the economy. The Environmental Protection Agency has calculated that Ireland will be producing between 4.1 and 8.8 million tons of carbons above the EU target in 2020, leaving it open to possible fines. In addition, the Climate Change Low Carbon Development 11 Bill 2015, showed Ireland is way off track and will have major challenges post 2020 in decarbonising its economy.
People Before Profit would move to a carbon neutral economy by 2035. With this aim in mind we would support practical and immediate steps to dramatically cut our Co2 emissions, without relying on market mechanisms to deliver this. These include..