A “collection of rehashed and regurgitated policies with a large dose of PR spin” is how People Before Profit Galway have described the Government’s Climate Action Plan.
PBP Galway representative, Adrian Curran, said the plan showed “a serious lack of ambition” in areas such as transport, instead placing a heavy reliance on individual modes of transport.
“The idea that the production of one million EV cars to service this country is what is required instead of free, frequent, and green public transport as a priority is outrageous,” said Mr Curran. “We need to electrify car transport, but we also need to reduce the number of cars on the road, and encourage people to use public transport.”
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The Climate Action Plan places emphasis on reducing nitrogen in fertilisers, but Mr Curran said there was “no stated ambition to reduce the national herd” in order to cut the levels of methane in the atmosphere.
Mr Curran said reducing the herd was essential, but must be done in tandem with supports for small and family farmers, “who have paid the highest price for the growth in the herd and have the most to lose”.
He said: “They need to be supported as a priority in making a just transition. We need the just transition to improve the lot and livelihoods of small and family farmers.”
