Irish Examiner view: Oireachtas must take urgent steps to combat climate crisis

Government’s climate action plan does not prevent reliance on fossil fuels or bring Ireland in line with pollution limits

Low water levels at the UK's Woodhead Reservoir in Longdendale, Derbyshire, during a heatwave in 2022. File picture: Alamy

It is over half a century since the first Earth Day was held, on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness of environmental concerns. Lest anyone think interest in such matters is a recent phenomenon, on that first Earth Day over 20m Americans protested about pollution.

The growing awareness driven by Earth Day and other initiatives led to landmark decisions such as the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, and now no-one can honestly claim to be ignorant of the scale of the environmental challenges facing our planet.