Majority believe Government not doing enough to cut reliance on fossil fuels

The Environmental Pillar said it has written to the Taoiseach calling on the Government to address the social and economic challenges arising from the escalating costs of energy and living. Picture: Juliane Sonntag/Photothek via Getty Images

A majority of people think the Government is not doing enough to cut Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels, as it was urged to convene a national dialogue of stakeholders to ensure this is our “last fossil fuel crisis”.

Released to mark Earth Day on Wednesday, the poll from Ireland Thinks for Environmental Pillar suggested that 56% of people say the Government is not doing enough while 21% of people think it is doing “too much, too fast”.

“The recent hikes in fuel prices have highlighted the social, environmental and economic vulnerabilities of Ireland’s over-reliance on fossil fuels,” said Karen Ciesielski, coordinator of Environmental Pillar, a group of NGOs in this space.

“It’s clear a majority of people want more decisive Government action to get Ireland off fossil fuels."

In the Programme for Government, the coalition pledged to take “decisive action to radically reduce our reliance on expensive imported fossil fuels”.

However, in the recent fuel crisis brought on by the war between the US and Israel with Iran, prices have surged at the pumps and for home heating oil showing our continued reliance on imported fossil fuels.

In the wake of large-scale demonstrations that caused significant disruption across the country earlier this month, the Government introduced further tax cuts on a temporary basis to try to insulate consumers from the rising costs.

The poll carried out earlier this month, of 1,000 adults with a margin of error of +/- 3%, suggests that a small majority of Fine Gael voters (51%) believe the Government is not doing enough to cut Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels while 44% of Fianna Fáil voters said the same.

Significant proportions of voters for both Fine Gael (42%) and Fianna Fáil (46%) agreed with the statement that the Government “is doing enough, as fast as practical, to cut Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels”.

Almost half of those who voted independent (48%) said the Government wasn’t doing enough but this increased significantly for parties on the left such as Sinn Féin voters (62%), Labour (80%), Social Democrats (91%), PBP (94%) and Green Party (100%).

The only cohort where a majority felt the Government was doing “too much too fast” were Independent Ireland voters at 55%.

The Environmental Pillar said it has written to the Taoiseach calling on the Government to convene social dialogue among employers, unions, farmers, environmentalists and social NGOs to address the social and economic challenges arising from the escalating costs of energy and living.

It said the solutions must be rooted in environmental sustainability.

“The Government’s response to the latest fossil fuel crisis has been to respond to the squeakiest wheels, with the loudest voices and, literally, the biggest wheels,” Environmental Pillar policy advisor Oisin Coghlan said. 

“What about the 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills? What about the charities providing social care whose energy bills are through the roof?

“It’s time for the Government to take the advice of the Just Transition Commission, convene a national dialogue with all the stakeholders around the table and plan a fair, fast and funded transition away from fossil fuels.”

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