Priest slams Ireland's green credentials

A missionary priest turned eco-campaigner today branded Ireland’s environmental record as horrendous.

Twenty years ago Fr Sean McDonagh saw first hand the impact deforestation was having on a native Filipino tribe.

The experience left a lasting effect, and like many other Irish missionaries serving in the world’s developing countries, the Tipperary-born Columban priest became an impassioned eco-activist.

He is using World Environment Day, which falls annually on June 5, to highlight what he believes is mankind’s disregard for environmental concerns.

“I have become committed to the belief that unless we cut our emissions we will have no future,” he says.

“We’ve made a particular choice here in Ireland to put our concern over economic growth first, while acting irresponsibly on our above average emissions. Ireland has a horrendous [environmental] record.

“This [World Environment Day] is an important day.”

During his time as a missionary in the Philippines, Fr McDonagh encountered a native tribe known as the T’boli, who lived at the heart of one of the country’s vast rainforests.

He witnessed the disastrous impact deforestation was having on the natives.

Their lives, he says, were so intertwined with the forest that its gradual destruction almost decimated this indigenous group.

“The forest was an inspiration to them. It was part of them,” he says.

Inspired by his missionary experiences, Fr McDonagh has become an outspoken environmental campaigner and in recent years has spoken widely about the threat of global warming and climate change.

He has written a number of books and given numerous lectures on the relationship between faith, justice and ecology.

He says global warming is the biggest issue facing agriculture for the next 50 years.

He describes climate change as a moral and religious issue because taking no action will ultimately mean suffering and death.

“We have to begin and look at the institutions of the state.

“They [politicians] are there and supposed to give leadership. But who is giving leadership in this area?,” he says.

“This is a fundamental and moral issue.

“Do we think we are the last generation of humans working on the earth? We do because that is the way we are acting” he says.

Fr McDonagh is one of a number of Irish clerics whose work in the developing world have led them to a greater understanding of the environment’s impact on our lives.

“Missionaries are strong on taking the environment into account within the development work they are involved with in the field, and raising awareness of environmental issues,” Irish Missionary spokeswoman Rita McCullagh says.

“Many missionaries stimulate awareness of environmental issues as part of their ethos.”

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated each year on June 5, its main aim is to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and to encourage political action.

This year’s theme is ’Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?’ and focuses on the effects climate change is having on polar ecosystems and the ensuing consequences around the world.

Norway will play host to this year’s main international celebrations.