Ireland Climate Elections

Ireland had recently held a General Election and below are the Climate Hustings that I attended and also Friends of the Earths Pledge that they made prospective candidates and parties sign up to. And now that the election is over there will be the work to agree a programme for government and this is another opportunity to ensure that Ireland sets and an example to other nations in terms of their commitment to engaging seriously on Ireland Climate promises. Sadly the Green Party were completely wiped out (bar the party leader Roderic O' Connor) and so the concern is that there may be no whip to ensure government action on the issue of the climate and indeed the SDGs. 

Friends of the Earth
For immediate release
Friday 29 November 2024

Five party leaders pledge “faster and fairer climate action”

Key policy pledges by parties also highlighted by climate campaigners

The leaders of five political parties from the outgoing Dáil have signed Friends of the Earth’s candidate climate pledge according to the campaigning organisation. The leaders of Sinn Fein, Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit and the Greens have pledged “to uphold the climate law and champion faster and fairer climate action to reduce pollution in line with the binding limits on emissions adopted by the Dáil”.

Commenting, Friends of the Earth chief executive, Oisín Coghlan said:

“It’s good to see five party leaders pledge not only to uphold the climate law but also to champion faster and fairer climate action in order to actually reduce pollution in line with the law. It is notable that Mary Lou McDonald is the only one of three leaders vying to be Taoiseach who signed the pledge.

“Of course the climate law will apply whoever is in government after the election and we’ll be working with all the TDs who signed our pledge to make sure the next Government delivers state-led transformation of our energy, transport, housing and food systems in a way that reduces poverty and inequality as well as polluting emissions.”

Friends of the Earth also analysed the specific policy pledges parties made on some of the organisation’s key campaign priorities such as a moratorium on data centres, a ban on LNG and a fair deal for renters on retrofitting.

Commenting, Friends of the Earth Head of Policy, Jerry Mac Evilly said: 

“Parties have made significant commitments in the course of the election on some critical climate-related issues.

“Both People Before Profit and Labour came out in support of a complete ban on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, between their manifesto, what they told our Climate Hustings and the answers they gave to WhichCandidate.ie

“While not addressed in their manifestos, it was also heartening that Sinn Fein, as well as the Social Democrats, rejected LNG at the recent Friends of the Earth hustings. The Green Party’s manifesto rejects a commercial LNG terminal, while Fianna Fáil have made the same commitment in response to the WhichCandidate.ie survey. 

“It was striking to see People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and Labour all support a pause on data centre expansion in their manifestos. At international level, these same 3 parties also all commit to endorsing the development of a global fossil fuel phase out treaty.

“It is also heartening that all parties have focused on making homes warmer and fossil free through different policies and incentives, including for those most at risk of energy poverty. Sinn Fein, People Before Profit and Labour all commit to increasing retrofits of social housing, while the Social Democrats and Labour commit to minimum BERs for the private rental sector. Fianna Fáil, the Social Democrats, Labour, Sinn Fein and People Before Profit all also support some form of community or local energy advice service to make sure retrofits are taken up by those who need them most.”

In total 184 of the 686 candidates standing in the General Election signed the pledge, including 43 standing for the Green Party (100% of their candidates), 40 for Sinn Fein (56%), 26 for Labour (81%), 23 for the Social Democrats (88%), 19 for People Before Profit (45%), 8 for Fianna Fáil (10%),2 for Indpendents4Change (67%), 2 for Aontú (5%) and 2 for Fine Gael (3%), and 21 Independents and others (8%).

Concluding, Oisín Coghlan said:

“After the election it will be the negotiations on a Programme from Government that will actually determine the direction of Irish climate action. We will be on hand to remind all the parties participating both of Ireland's legally-binding national and EU commitments and of what they pledged to voters during the election campaign.”

ENDS