Is Labour about to cave on Climate Change Bill?

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Press Release from Friends of the Earth

Hogan’s Bill with no targets and no independent council going to Cabinet today 

Friends of the Earth has reacted with astonishment to media reports that Minister Hogan is bringing a Climate Change Bill to Cabinet today (Tuesday) with no targets and no independent advisory council. The environmental campaigning organisation expressed its disbelief that Labour ministers would sign-off on a Bill that was so far removed from the Bill the party developed and championed in the last Dáil.

Commenting on developments, Oisin Coghlan, Friends of the Earth Director, said:

“A Climate Change Bill with no targets and no independent advisory council is simply pointless. What’s more, Labour ministers know that.

“Just four years ago Eamon Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte launched a Labour Climate Bill with long-term and interim targets, an independent advisory council and which made the Taoiseach responsible for climate policy. Are Labour ministers really going to sign-up now for a Bill with none of those elements?” Continue reading “Is Labour about to cave on Climate Change Bill?” →

Vuvuzela Protest: Climate Change Blows!

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Climate Change Blows!Stop Climate Chaos Protest

24th November: 1pm at the Dáil, Kildare Street

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan prepares to travel to Durban in South Africa for the UN conference on Climate Change at the end of this month. Stop Climate Chaos want to send him off knowing climate change matters to people.  Come down to the Dáil on Kildare Street, Thursday 24th of November at 1pm and join the call.

 

Afri is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition.

Climate Change Bill not a priority for Government

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Press release, 4 November 2011

The Justice and Peace organization Afri has expressed dismay at the announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan that a Climate Change Bill will not be a priority for the Coalition Government. As Ireland reels from the latest experience of extreme weather events, severe flooding at least partly attributable to climate change, Afri spokesperson Joe Murray said he found it almost incomprehensible that Mr. Hogan could deem the issue not to be a priority.

Mr Murray pointed to the near hysterical reaction of farming and business groups when such a Bill was previously proposed as a clear indication of who dictates policy in Ireland on this issue. “It is clear that Mr. Hogan’s environmental policy now constitutes an abject surrender to these vested interests of industrialized farming and big business, underlined by his decision not to impose statutory targets for emissions reductions,” said Mr Murray. Continue reading “Climate Change Bill not a priority for Government” →