Ireland’s consistent failure to deliver “critical” climate action plans on time has “undermined the whole EU-wide process” of climate action, an Oireachtas committee has heard.
The Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action was told that the country’s poor performance “has frustrated public participation” and could even “create a backlash” against climate goals.
“Ireland really needs to step up its game,” Dr Ciara Brennan, Director of the Environmental Justice Network Ireland, said.
The committee is discussing progress on the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), which runs to 2030, and the National Long-Term Climate Action Strategy (nLTS), which looks at the period beyond 2030.
Ireland’s entire approach to the two “critical planning processes” has been “really problematic,” Dr Brennan said, as it has been “consistently late across all of these processes” – more so than any other EU nation.
Ireland was three years late publishing the draft long-term strategy, Dr Brennan noted, adding that the final version must be submitted by the end of this year.
She warned that the “extreme” delay “has led to piecemeal, incomplete and out-of-date plans” and “confusion between stakeholders”.
The delay also raises “very profound” issues, including whether the Government simply does not have a long-term strategy for climate planning, and has not had the discussions needed to develop one.
Dr Brennan called for a robust national conversation about how the nation sees itself dealing with the climate crisis in the years ahead to help to get to grips with the challenge.
The draft NECP was also submitted late, by five months, she said. An updated version is due by the end of next month.
That draft would only deliver a quarter of Ireland’s climate change targets, Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore noted, citing an assessment carried out at EU level.
Dr Brennan said that the Department of the Environment has revealed that “some of those gaps will be filled in the final document” – but “it’s still going to show a gap”.
“There is definitely going to be a gap,” she said, adding that this could result in Ireland being taken to court.
“Ireland is actually causing a problem here for the EU as a whole,” Dr Brennan said. The delays she outlined have “undermined the whole EU-wide process”.
A lack of data has also made any meaningful analysis impossible, she told the committee.
Oisín Coghlan, Chief Executive of the Friends of the Earth, said that he was “baffled” that the data for the NECP was so thin, and wondered why the preparatory work to gather that data had not been done.
But he also pointed to the “the complexity of the document”, adding that this was at odds with the EU’s “desire for public participation”.
Noting her own “Belfast accent”, Dr Brennan also asked why there has been no discussion about the impact of these plans north of the border.
They will affect the whole island, but there has been no consultation with citizens in Northern Ireland, she said.
Several speakers urged that a Commissioner for future generations be appointed to help to bring focus to the climate planning process, and to highlight the stake that children have in it.
Committee Cathaoirleach Brian Leddin, a Green Party TD, said that the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan will before the committee to answer questions relating to the NECP and nLTS in the coming weeks.
