People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has welcomed the passing of a Dáil motion that declares a Climate Emergency and urged the Government to accept its implications.
Speaking after the motion was accepted, she said: “If this is to mean anything then the Government must now act like there is an emergency, that means firstly supporting my Climate Emergency Measures bill which will ban fossil fuel exploration but also moving beyond that to banning LNGs for example, to massive investments in off shore wind, public transport and retro fitting homes.”
She said up to now, the Governments continued support for the fossil fuel industry and exploration flew in the face of all the known science around climate change: “We know we must leave 80% of proved reserves of oil gas and coal in the ground to stay with the limits of the Paris Treaty; supporting an industry that damages our marine environment and wants to find more source is insane.”
The Climate Emergency Measures bill will come before a Dail Select Committee on June 11th.
