Ireland’s failure to tackle climate change is a breach of human rights, a UN special rapporteur has said. In a legal submission in support of a High Court challenge to the state’s plan to tackle climate change, David Boyd said: “Ireland must reduce emissions as rapidly as possible, applying the maximum available resources.” The intervention was published on the same day as Seán Canney, the minister for natural resources, reassured the Irish oil and gas sector that further exploration of offshore energy supplies was part of the government’s climate change mitigation plan. Speaking to delegates from the industry, he dismissed a bill voted through in the Dáil that would ban offshore drilling and said that it would not help Ireland meet emissions targets. He said that more production of fossil fuels would generate money for the country.
Times 1st Nov 2018 read more »