Where exactly does Sinn Féin stand on climate change?

As intensive talks between the Coalition parties on climate change targets drag on, Sinn Féin has again declined to outline its position on the issue.

Parties across the political spectrum agree that a 51 per cent emissions reduction is needed by 2030. Other Opposition groups have outlined where they think the cuts should land for individual sectors, and the Government remains locked into talks to find agreement, but Sinn Féin steadfastly refuses to put forward numbers.

The Climate Action Plan recommends a range of cuts of between 22 and 30 per cent for the agriculture sector. The Green Party wants it to come in at the higher end of the range, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael (under pressure from their rural bases) are aiming lower.

When asked what his party would do, Sinn Féin environment spokesman Darren O’Rourke has said they do not have enough data to be categoric and are waiting on a report by consultants McKinsey and Company, leading to suspicions of a policy of strategic vagueness.

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[ More than half of climate plans missed as agriculture emissions wrangling continues ]

[ No mistaking the gravity of emissions crux for Coalition ]

“We do not have the detail, line by line, percentage by percentage. And we are not going to pick a figure out of the air,” he said this week.

In an interview with the Business Post, O’Rourke said: “We are largely blind in terms of the considerations for this. We know the overall target of 51 per cent is there, we support that, and we support net zero by 2050. We know we need to be at the higher end in all sectors to meet that 51 per cent, but in real terms, we are not in a position to decide what the implications for agriculture are of 29 per cent versus 23 per cent or anything in between.”

In the lead up to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow last October, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was asked by RTÉ's This Week programme what climate actions the party supported, including around agriculture emissions ceilings.

Anxiety

She said “there is no point in taking out the big stick to Irish farmers, talking about the suckler herd, leaving beef farmers in a state of anxiety on the one hand, and then go and sign a trade deal, Mercosur, which will flood the European market with Brazilian beef.

“We need to be careful with sticks, that if you’re using the stick, you are applying the stick to the right errant party.”

At local level Sinn Féin is doubling down, too. In a statement to the Corkman last week, former MEP Liadh Ní Riada, a candidate for Cork North-West in the next general election, said her party would not be drawn to favour either the low target sought by farmers or the high one favoured by the Green Party. She also cited not seeing the “full information” needed on the issue.

Emissions

On page 29 of Sinn Féin’s 2020 election manifesto, the party says it would prioritise “setting out in legislation sectoral targets to meet our carbon emissions reduction commitments”. While the party might say it does not have enough information to settle on a figure, the Climate Change Advisory Council Carbon Budget Technical Report was published last October and set out clear routes to achieving the necessary cuts.

Sinn Féin has also opposed cutting the suckler herd and has given no commitment on reducing the dairy herd.

The debate this week is around sectoral emissions ceilings but is not the first time Sinn Féin has found itself under pressure over climate policies. In the lead up to COP26, party whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn withdrew a Bill from the Dáil schedule on wind turbines. This proposed a set-back distance for turbines from the nearest house equal to 10 times their height, and also banned the export of energy from turbines.

It came at a time of local opposition to wind farms in the Midlands. Belatedly recognising that such legislation could have seriously restricted the further development of wind energy, it was withdrawn.

Asked whether there was hypocrisy in drafting the Bill while claiming to be strong on climate action, O’Rourke said last year: “If you look at our contribution to the Climate Action Bill, and the amendments we have submitted, we have supported and were constructive in Opposition in terms of what needs to be done. The difference is around the road that needs to be travelled to get there.”

The most obvious climate-related policy that Sinn Féin is known for is its outright opposition to a carbon tax. Earlier this year, the party tabled a Dáil motion calling on the Government to scrap planned increases to the tax. A United Nations scientific panel last year said putting a price on carbon emissions would be central for getting global warming under control.

Additional revenue raised from the tax in Ireland in the period to 2030 is to go into a €9.5 billion Climate Action Fund, with €3 billion to be used to target fuel poverty. Asked last year where alternative funding might be raised, O’Rourke agreed it would be a challenge.

Homeowners

Another contentious area is around the need to reduce emissions from buildings, especially in older private homes, with the cost of retrofitting 500,000 homes forecast to be at least €28 billion, much of which will have to be borne by homeowners themselves.

In 2019, Sinn Féin questioned in a policy paper if there was mass demand for retrofitting houses. It said deep retrofits could “only be viewed as a long-term measure with potential for tiny incremental gains over 30 to 40 years. In reality, the gains from current retrofit models over the next decade will be marginal and the best opportunity for change arises from new builds”.

The party has also done an about-turn on the Shannon Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal, which it now opposes. A 2017 statement from Ní Riada, then an MEP, welcoming EU backing for the project has been removed from the Sinn Féin website. Party Senator Lynn Boylan last year said of plans for an LNG terminal in Cork that “in an era of climate chaos, it doesn’t make sense to build new fossil fuel infrastructure”.