Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Climate Action David Cullinane TD has said any future Climate Action Bill must be underpinned by real investment and concrete solutions.

He said far away targets like net zero emissions by 2050 are meaningless unless they are accompanied by concrete, costed measures to achieve the reductions.

Speaking this morning, Deputy Cullinane said:

“The promise by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to enact a Climate Bill within 100 days of a new Government must be transparent and underpinned by costed and concrete solutions. Setting far away dates as an end goal has been tried and failed with every target set by previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments missed.

“This is because these parties have not demonstrated the political will to achieve these targets. They have failed to substantially invest in public transport and in ambitious retrofit programmes. They have failed to move away from fossil fuels quickly enough and have let big corporations off the hook.

“Any Climate Action Bill worth its salt must bring to a halt locking future generations into fossil fuel based industries. This means the planned LNG Terminal at Shannon must be scrapped.

“Past Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have also failed to plan for a Just Transition. We see this in the early closure of peat based power plants and with the treatment of workers at Bord Na Móna. The Governments Just Transition has been exposed as threadbare.

“Sinn Féin seeks to shift the focus away from abstract targets into the arena of realistic and deliverable measures. We want to see the highest levels of carbon reductions through costed and transparent solutions.

“The days of wish lists, vague commitments and distant targets must come to an end. Targets have to be achievable, deliverable, costed, legally binding and underpinned by investment.”

ENDS//