Minister admits 'failures' on climate change strategy

MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey has readily accepted that his own Government's climate change strategy from 2002 was a failure in some respects.

Mr Dempsey was minister for the environment in 2002 when the strategy was reviewed. He said the Government had a choice to take the hard decisions then or postpone them, but took the decision to put those decisions on the long finger.

"Yes, it's an admission of failures in several areas," he said, accepting he was criticising a government of which he was a key member.

"We can give reasons for some of them, the need for economic action, the importance of catch-up in the economy and infrastructure, the need to stop emigration and reduce unemployment. The Government failed but it was not just the Government. We all failed. We have to get real."

He was speaking a the launch of a consultation document on sustainable travel and transport. He said there was no point in groups lobbying him that it should be business as usual in the transport area, when Ireland was in danger of increasing emissions in this sector to 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020, some 265 per cent above 1990 levels.

"We have to get our heads out of the sand in relation to international binding agreements were we have signed up to. In 2002, we had a choice in relation to Kyoto between choosing to postpone hard decisions until 2008 or start moving in 2002 and not have a great difficulty in 2008. If we took the decisions back then, we did not get to implement them. We are now in the endgame."