Sinn Féin spokesperson on Climate Justice, Senator Lynn Boylan, has welcomed the publication of an important report on government’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

However, Senator Boylan said she regrets that it comes eighteen months after the statutory deadline.

Senator Boylan said:

“A year and a half since his deadline passed, Minister Eamon Ryan has finally published the Annual Transition Statement for 2020. The Climate Change Advisory Council was right to call out the Minister’s failure to produce the statement in its annual review last year.

“The Annual Transition Statements have been an essential source of evidence on the government’s track record tackling climate change, although they have tended to be overly positive and lacking balance. This year is no different.

“Presenting the Transition Statement in the Oireachtas is a prime opportunity to hold the government to account. But more than that, it is a clear legal obligation on the Minister and a centre piece of the 2015 Climate Act.

“It is a very worrying precedent that Eamon Ryan is setting in terms of his legally mandated climate obligations. If he is this brazen about the Annual Transition Statement, how seriously can he expect other ministers to take their legal commitments like emissions reductions targets?

“Political accountability is essential to functioning climate legislation. Climate commitments simply aren’t worth the paper they are written on if they are ignored.

“It is highly concerning that a minister has simply ignored the law for this long. Minister Ryan has failed his first test of accountability.”