Conference to discuss climate change targets

Meeting Ireland's climate-change targets while ensuring economic growth will come under the spotlight today at a major conference in Dublin.

Minister for the Environment John Gormley will open the event, staged by Comhar Sustainable Development Council, by outlining his views on moving from strategy to implementation in achieving sustainable development in Ireland.

Other key contributors at the two-day conference include Dermot McCarthy, secretary general to the Government and the Department of the Taoiseach, who will reflect on what it takes to make sustainable development effective across Government departments, and Rory O'Donnell, Director of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).

"Setting targets on climate change and sustainability is painless, but meeting them requires putting in place the right policies; sufficient resources and well-motivated and functioning institutions at national, regional and local levels," said Professor Frank Convery, chairperson of Comhar.

"To be effective, sustainable development policy must involve many Government departments and agencies working together, and must interact productively with stakeholders in business and the community."

Comhar, which was established by the Government in 1999, is responsible for informing national policy on sustainable development.

Its conference, entitled 'Making it Happen - Towards a Sustainable Ireland', signifies an important input into the revised National Sustainable Development Strategy, which will deliver mechanisms to tackle climate change and achieve sustainable development to 2016.

Policy-makers, business and community representatives will discuss the challenge of making Ireland's development sustainable, how sustainable development can be measured, and policy options to deliver sustainability today and tomorrow at the Radisson Hotel, Stillorgan.