Ireland needs to tackle the issues of climate change and economic productivity if it is to withstand a slowdown in the US economy or a European energy crisis, EU Ambassador to the US John Bruton has warned.
In an address to the Seanad today, the former taoiseach warned that change would only occur if Irish public opinion recognises that the problem is serious and makes sacrifices willingly.
"The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world are the US, followed by China and Europe. Europe is still far from perfect."
"Some individual European countries have already greatly exceeded their Kyoto emission targets, including one I will not name."
"At the end of the day, we will only manage to cut the rate of increase in greenhouse gases if public opinion recognises that the problem is both serious and urgent and is willing to make sacrifices to overcome it," he added.
Mr Bruton said a key challenge for Ireland was to spread the same rate of increase in productivity achieved in the foreign-owned sector to the rest of the economy, including to private services, construction, government services and distribution.
"This is more easily said than done," he warned. "But one way to stimulate productivity growth throughout the economy is to ensure that we use the European Single Market properly to tackle restrictive practices and barriers to competition."