Micheal Martin: Ireland has no choice but to act on climate change

Micheal Martin said Ireland has no choice but to respond to the threat of climate change as he hit back at “scaremongering”.

The Taoiseach, speaking at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow, offered a stark warning to critics of his Government’s policy on climate change.

“We have no choice here. Climate change will catch up with us. It will catch up with our farming, with our agriculture, if we don’t take action,” he said.

Mr Martin is due to address the crucial UN climate summit on Tuesday.

He told reporters on Tuesday morning: “Fundamentally, we will be laying out our stall in terms of our overall commitments and our sense as a nation that we believe that this is all about a better future.

“Emphasising not just the hope aspect of this. It actually leads to a better quality of life for our citizens into the future.”

Earlier, Mr Martin was highly critical of a recent media report which suggested cutting agriculture emissions by 21% could lead to the loss of 10,000 jobs.

“I think we have to be very careful of that scaremongering,” he told RTE radio.

“There has been a lot of headlines in the last two to three weeks that, in my view, are creating the sort of impression that this is an outlandish or impossible or off-the-wall type of approach that we’re taking, or the world is taking.”

He said: “We need to switch more towards giving income to farmers to protect our biodiversity through a variety of imaginative schemes that, for example, would enable them to grow native tree species and fund that.”

He also said Ireland will need to look again at the growth of data centres in the country.

Some critics have called for a moratorium on the building of data centres, amid concerns about the demand they place on Ireland’s energy system.

“I think there will have to be modifications to the way we approach data centres,” he told RTE radio.

“We can have a more balanced approach, in terms of mitigating the impact on our energy system.”

The Cabinet subcommittee will meet on Wednesday and Mr Martin said he expects it will approve the Government’s climate action plan.

That plan will provide much-anticipated detail for each sector on how to reduce emissions over the next decade.

He acknowledged Ireland has missed some targets on climate change, but said the Government’s record was improving.

“I think we had missed targets in the past,” he said.

“We have passed a climate law that is comprehensive and that sets legal imperatives on this Government and successive governments to achieve that.”

Mr Martin was asked on Tuesday morning about his reaction to India’s commitment to cut emissions to net zero by 2070.

Mr Martin said he felt increasingly hopeful for the future and said India’s commitment was “positive”.

“In every country, you’re going to have different permutations. Different sorts of issues,” he said.

“It is important that commitments are made and then work has to continue to improve on those commitments.

“I’m more hopeful now than I would have been 12 months ago.”