Ahern ‘treading water’ in economy and environment views
Mr Ahern addressed an EU conference on sustainable development in Dublin Castle yesterday, in which he emphasised the Lisbon Agenda the plan to make the EU the largest and most competitive economy in the world within 10 years.
But Green Party TD Eamon Ryan, who attended the conference, claimed that Mr Ahern's interpretation of sustainable development focused primarily on economic and social policies while paying only lip service to the environment.
Mr Ahern told the conference the Lisbon Agenda would force policy makers to take account of the "interactions between economic and social policies".
He said that it was "a 10-year strategy that requires us to look at the long-term sustainability of those policies. This is not only good for Europe in an economic context, but it is essentially good for the people of Europe".
Mr Ahern said the focus on sustainable growth in the Lisbon Agenda was important and that economic growth, social policies and the environment would all need to be balanced.
The greatest challenge facing Europe, said the Taoiseach, was the need to deliver more and better jobs. Turing to the environmental dimension, he said modern economic policies must take account of environmental considerations.
"We all face similar challenges in seeking to ensure that economic activity does not go hand in hand with environmental damage. For example, full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol commits all parties to achieving ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases with action required across all economic sectors," he said.
However, he added the rider that "environmental policies should not hamper economic progress".
Mr Ryan, responding to the speech, said Mr Ahern had said very little that added to the real agenda.
"Sustainability is a threeway strategy about economic growth, social policy and the environment. But in his speech, he concentrated on the economy and jobs and just tacked on environment as a protection issue," he said. "He was just treading water. It was a very disappointing speech."
