Even after a conclusive presentation highlighting the dangers of global warming was shown to its members, Westmeath County Council still proved the supremacy of the parish pump when it voted to petition the Government to allow turf cutting in raised bogs continue.
The members were given a slide show by Gavin Harte from the Department of the Environment at the monthly meeting of the county council on Monday as part of an ongoing campaign to inform all 48 local authorities in the State about the ongoing dangers of continued global warming.
However, even after being told that the largest scientific experiment ever conducted in history concluded that “there is no doubt” about the dangers of climate change, at least four councillors voiced a parochial scepticism.
“I have a lot of doubts about climate change and one area I’m very concerned about is the effect on rural Ireland and agriculture,” said Cllr Paddy Hill, who complained about the recently dropped Climate Change Bill and its authors.
“I’m very glad the Greens are gone off the scene,” he said.
“Hear, hear,” concurred Cllr Colm Arthur.
“Our country doesn’t measure on the Richter scale compared to China or India, and nobody wants to see agriculture attacked. People in rural Ireland will not accept these proposals. This is just another campaign to get rid of the people in rural Ireland,” he mildly hyperboled.
However, Mr Harte pointed out the average Irishman is responsible for the production of 17 tonnes of carbon per annum, while in China the average is three.
“Have we to stop burning turf and timber? I have my reservations about this,” continued Cllr Hill.
Cllr Robert Troy, who is hoping to become a TD on March 25, told the meeting he believed the Climate Change Bill was “an attack on rural Ireland”, although he didn’t say by whom, and called on the chamber to write to the Minister for the Environment seeking a derogation on the ban on turf cutting.
Cllr Frankie Keena told the meeting how, as a member of the Creggan Turbary Rights Group, he had attended the national meeting of turf cutters in the Hodson Bay hotel in Athlone the previous day and “will give them 100 per cent support on this”.
After calling again on Westmeath County Council to look into promoting the growth of biomass product on any excess landbank, he added that “agriculture cannot be touched and should be a no-go area”.
This increase in scepticism can be traced to the IFA’s rabid opposition to the recently stalled the Climate Change Bill and what affect it may have had on this sector that is responsible for 28 per cent of Ireland’s CO2 emissions. Such was the influence of its opposition, that Deputy Denis Naughten from Roscommon quite calmly released a press statement two weeks ago claiming that 85 per cent of cattle would have to be culled if this bill passed.
