Business as usual not the answer in face of threat from climate change

WHITEWASH. Greenwash. Hogwash. Whatever kind of wash you’re having yourself, our Taoiseach has been spewing it at the UN climate summit in New York.

The man who has for three years led a country towards being “the best small country in the world in which to do business as usual” actually stood up in front of the world’s delegates and announced that “Ireland has a strong and proud track record” on climate change.

This same man has led a government which has halved the amount of retro-fitting of buildings, cancelled Metro North and our best chance ever of an integrated public transport system, held back from investing in the future of renewables, whose approach to waste management is to do a deal to supply an American multinational to burn it in Dublin Bay, and which spent most of its term of office negotiating to get let off lowering emissions from agriculture.