The Government should change its "pollute now-pay later" approach to carbon emissions, Labour Party Environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore said today.
Labour Party Environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore
Speaking after the release of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which concluded that global warming is caused primarily by human activity, Mr Gilmore said it was "unacceptable" for a rich country like Ireland to increase emissions and simply buy its way out of trouble.
"As a country we will have to face up to our international obligations by reducing carbon emissions not by buying our way out of the problem," Mr Gilmore said.
The Labour TD criticised Minister for the Environment Dick Roche for "failing miserably" to reduce Ireland's carbon emissions.
Mr Gilmore also said that the Government has underestimated the cost carbon credits will have to the taxpayer.
The Green Party called the IPCC report a "truly historic event" and said that the world had "woken up" to climate change.
Party leader Trevor Sargent criticised the Government for "deliberately ignoring" the issue.
He said: "This Government has proven that it's not up to the task: it doesn't understand the scale of the climate change challenge ahead of us and thinks it can buy its way out of trouble.
"It is time to act. By switching to public transport; by setting higher building standards, by using renewable energy; by taxing the polluter and by providing a future for Irish farming, we can maintain our quality of life and lower our emissions".
