Irish Examiner view: It's catastrophic to be going backwards on climate targets 

It is long past time we treated this crisis with urgency

Environment minister Darragh O’Brien said the EPA figures 'are a clear signal that, while we’ve made real progress, we need to move faster to meet our 2030 climate targets'. Picture: Conor McCabe

The figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are grounds for concern for anyone worried by the climate crisis.

The agency says that Ireland has “moved backwards” when it comes to our goal of reducing carbon emissions by 51% by 2030, as the latest statistics show the country is on course for a maximum reduction of 23%. That percentage makes a stark comparison with a predicted reduction of 29% made just 12 months ago.

This is a terrible indictment of our performance. It is bad enough not to reach targets, which were set to help us combat the greatest existential threat which faces humanity, but to go backwards — as stated by the EPA — is catastrophic.

The best that can be said about these figures is that they expose our lack of commitment and bring some reality to this situation. We may be making all the right noises and gestures, but clearly substantive progress is not being achieved: Going by these figures, the situation is getting worse.

If “lack of commitment” sounds excessive, readers should consider the contribution of environment minister Darragh O’Brien. He said the EPA figures “are a clear signal that, while we’ve made real progress, we need to move faster to meet our 2030 climate targets”.

It beggars belief that any politician would attempt to describe the EPA figures as a sign of progress, yet here we are.

The bad news does not end there: We are also set to miss EU-mandated carbon targets for 2030 by a massive margin.

That could result in fines of tens of billions of euro for failing to match the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation, which penalises member states not doing their fair share in terms of climate action.

It is long past time we treated this crisis with the urgency it deserves before it is too late. However, if missing our emissions targets and owing billions in fines doesn’t motivate us to act, what will?

State bodies hid and deflected

Earlier this week, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan apologised to the O’Farrell family in the Dáil.

It was a long-awaited day of vindication for the O’Farrell family, who have spent almost 15 years fighting for justice for their son and brother Shane — who was knocked down and killed near Carrickmacross, Monaghan, in August 2011. Shane O’Farrell was struck in a hit-and-run incident by a car driven by Zigimantas Gridziuska.

Lithuanian Gridziuska was a repeat criminal who had committed a series of offences while on bail. A year before the hit-and-run incident, he was given a prison sentence which he did not serve. When the O’Farrells started investigating, they found that Gridziuska appeared to be committing crimes all over Ireland with apparent impunity.

In the 18 months before the hit-and-run incident, he committed approximately 30 offences, with Lucia O’Farrell, Shane’s mother, saying: “He seemed to be in every court walking in and out ... He seemed to get fines, get the benefit of the Probation Act, community service, and then he’d get full temporary release, and re-offend. He could do what he liked, bail had no legal meaning for him.”

The failure of the legal system to deal with this offender is a shocking indictment of that system, but there is a lesson here which goes beyond criminals ignoring the courts.

In their years fighting for Shane, the O’Farrell family were treated shamefully by the State. The family requested information from bodies as various as the Department of Justice, the Courts Service, the Prison Service, and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, but they described their treatment as “abusive and disrespectful ... What followed was stonewalling by State agencies who adopted deflection, evasiveness, and most importantly, a deliberate lack of completeness and transparency. We learned of Gridziuska’s criminal past from our own efforts, not from the State”.

It is disgraceful that State bodies would treat citizens in this manner. Those responsible for protecting their institutions rather than aiding fellow citizens should face disciplinary action for their treatment of the O’Farrell family.

Unfair play

It may be a week and a half away but the excitement is building for the Munster hurling final, one of the highlights of the Irish sporting summer.

This year, Cork take on Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds, a mouthwatering clash expected to sell out when tickets go on sale.

However, supporters are swallowing hard at the ticket prices — €50 for stand, €40 for terrace, and €10 for U16s, with €5 concession for students and OAPs.

That is a €5 increase on stand, terrace, and juvenile prices from last year’s final. In 2023, stand admission was €40 and terrace €30 for that year’s provincial final.

That means a 25% hike in ticket prices in just two years, a staggering leap in cost. Given the huge following both Cork and Limerick have, and the near-guarantee that the venue will sell out, those supporters are entitled to feel their loyalty is being penalised here. As a comparison, stand tickets for the Munster football final between Kerry and Clare this year were €20 cheaper than their hurling equivalents.

If the authorities were to reconsider and even freeze prices at the 2024 level, it would be a welcome gesture and an indication that the supporters’ loyalty is something to be appreciated and not exploited.