Gormley accused of U-turn on light bulb ban

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley was last night accused of doing a U-turn after withdrawing plans to unilaterally ban incandescent light bulbs in favour of a Europe-wide initiative.

Mr Gormley said Ireland no longer needed to introduce its own energy-saving move as proposed new EU regulations would produce the same result.

The EU phasing-out would begin this September, later than in the original Irish plan, and be completed by 2012, if the initiative is approved by MEPs.