Roche defends Irish green record

Irish reaction:Environment Minister Dick Roche has defended Ireland's environmental record following the publication of the UN's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that said global climate change is "very likely" to have been caused by human activities.

But Opposition parties and environmental groups were strongly critical yesterday of the Government's response to climate change. However, Mr Roche said Ireland was playing its part in response to global warming.

"We have ratified the Kyoto Protocol and we will meet our target using all of the available mechanisms, including domestic action, participation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and support for projects in developing countries."

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the Government was adding to global warming by buying carbon credits instead of reducing emissions.

"This Government doesn't understand the scale of the climate change challenge ahead of us and thinks it can buy its way out of trouble. At every occasion it has taken the easy option - not the right option."

Ireland had "massive untapped renewable resources" and should be leading the way in meeting the challenge of climate change, Mr Sargent said.

The IPCC report removed any doubt that immediate action was needed to tackle climate change, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said. Global warming was in the first instance the responsibility of the western world, he said.

"The West has a moral obligation to act first to move to decarbonise its economy. If we do not, we cannot expect developing economies to take the risk first."

Ireland needed to adopt an "aggressive" approach to the problem, Fine Gael environment spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said.

The Government had refused to adopt policies that would reduce carbon emissions, he said, but a Fine Gael-led Government would give new responsibilities to local authorities for climate change and energy conservation.

"Each local authority will be compelled to conduct a full inventory of CO2 emissions in their area and then produce a plan of action in consultation with local businesses to reduce these emissions."

The report exposed the Government's negligence in relation to climate change which had left the Climate Change Strategy "in tatters", An Taisce said.

"While the Government is seeking to hold us up as a model of economic development, the reality is that our per capita greenhouse gas emissions are among the worst in the world."

Friends of the Earth director Oisín Coghlan said the Government had failed to take the issue seriously. "In Ireland our Government has been tinkering while the world warms. Now it's time for leadership."