The Fine Gael-led Government is “hypocritical in the extreme” following their declaration of a climate emergency, according to EU Independent election candidate Dr Fidelma Healy Eames.
Dr Healy Eames said; “Actions speak louder than words. If Fine Gael and the Government were genuine about tackling climate change they would have run a ‘no plastic poster’ campaign for the local and European elections.”
The former Fine Gael senator, who is running a poster-free campaign, went on to detail the problems with posters. She said; “In 2014 a total of 611,000 posters were printed at a cost of €3 million. That is enough posters to cover an area 23 times the size of Croke Park. The production of these posters would have resulted in 366 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere and the majority of them ended up in landfill.
“Perhaps Fine Gael’s awareness of climate threats has increased since 2014 but now we see they are repeating this damaging plastic poster practice in the current local and European elections. It is not unusual to see a line of posters by the same European candidate pole after pole. People on the doorstep and the street are telling me they are sick of it. To add insult to injury the Government declared a climate emergency this week saying that ‘we must change our behaviour in profound ways’. Well clearly the Fine Gael party has not. Neither indeed has Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, or Labour who also have poster campaigns.”
Dr Healy Eames suggested the declaration of a climate emergency by the Government was nothing more than lip service. She said; “Who does Fine Gael think it is fooling, saying one thing and doing another? It sounds like an impressive headline for Ireland to declare a climate emergency but it must be followed up by action rather than spin. And this Government is all about spin. The people of rural Ireland know it, as do people on housing and health lists but no emergencies are called there.
