Government's inadequate emissions plan has failed farmers and environmentalists

The Government's smoke and mirrors has pitted farmers and environmentalists who, by all logic, should both be angry at the government for not providing the necessary support to allow things to change, against each other. It owes us the support needed to allow rural communities to flourish throughout the climate transition, writes Saoi O'Connor

Instead of just talking about how much farmers emit, we should be talking about how to support local farmers, to build a just transition to a zero-emission economy, and to survive the coming impacts of the climate crisis which are already locked in. File picture

During the 2020 election, when Green Party candidates proclaimed that it was impossible to negotiate with physics, one could have been forgiven for assuming they meant that the scientific principles of physics would be a cornerstone of their governance. 

Today, on the heels of a heatwave which saw Ireland’s hottest temperatures in recorded history, it is clear that the opposite is true; they cannot negotiate with physics because physics is not at their negotiating table.