Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has accused the government of throwing in the towel on climate action after Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien admitted that the State would only reduce greenhouse emissions by half of its 51 per cent target by 2030.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is incredibly disheartening, but hardly surprising, to hear the minister concede defeat on Ireland\u2019s climate action ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, both the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) and the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) jointly warned that this country faces compliance costs ranging from \u20ac8 billion to \u20ac26 billion if we miss our legally binding EU targets. At the time, the Climate Minister sought to play down the serious financial risk facing the country, dismissively describing the fine projections as a \u2018back of an envelope\u2019 calculation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re hearing today from the minister is a staggering admission of failure \u2013 something that climate activists, scientists and Opposition politicians have been warning about for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe billions in fines we face is money that could have been used to save us from disaster. It should have been invested in renewable energy, large-scale retrofitting schemes and key public transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd even though the transport sector continues to be one of the main polluters, we have seen important projects like MetroLink delayed for decades. Such snail\u2019s pace progress is the reason so many people are reluctant to get out of their cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven this government\u2019s shameful track record on climate action, Minister O\u2019Brien\u2019s belief that substantial and rapid reductions will be seen from the early 2030s onwards \u2013 once offshore wind power is added to the national grid \u2013 is difficult to take seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy kicking the climate action can down the road, the minister is shifting responsibility for reducing our greenhouse emissions onto the next government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need leadership now, not excuses. Instead of raising the white flag and accepting failure, it\u2019s time for the government to get real about our climate emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n
January 7, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has accused the government of throwing in the towel on climate action after Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien admitted that the State would only reduce greenhouse emissions by half of its 51 per cent target by 2030. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate, said: \u201cIt is incredibly disheartening, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n