Open letter to Taoiseach's Office

Following the publication of the latest IPCC report, the Taoiseach's Office took a full day to make a public statement or acknowledge the findings of the groundbreaking report.

When it did finally respond, it doubled-down on setting 2050 net-zero goals, despite the IPCC report clearly and repeatedly stating that this would be too little, too late to avert the worst outcomes of the Climate Crisis. Specifically, the official Twitter account for the Taoiseach tweeted the following on Tuesday 10th August at 5:09pm:

"The #IPCCReport is a hugely important statement on #ClimateChange - a 'code red' for humanity. Our breakthrough Climate Act commits to a 51% cut in emissions by 2030, and climate neutrality by 2050. Government, citizens, industry and communities must all embrace the challenge."

This demonstrates that either the leaders of the Irish government have not read the report, or that they have read it and chosen to disregard the recommendations of hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists, and therefore chosen to lock us into a Climate Crisis that will kill millions and displace billions more.

When questioned about their response to the IPCC report, the Taoiseach's Office chose only to provide a single PR response that did not address our questions, and only sought to politicise climate action, and protect the government’s reputation.

Their response was:

The Government has not only committed to achieving carbon neutrality on or before 2050, but is also committed to a reduction in total emissions of 51% over the period to 2030. The Climate Bill [Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill], which was signed into law by the President on 23rd July this year, places this objective on a statutory basis. This objective is now known as the ‘national climate objective’.
As part of this legislation the Government will adopt a series of economy-wide, five-year carbon budgets, on a rolling 15-year basis. The Government will also adopt sectoral emission ceilings for each relevant sector, within the limits of each carbon budget.
So while the Government is focused on achieving carbon neutrality on or before 2050, it is also committed to achieving important interim targets before then – as part of the wider roadmap of actions to reduce our emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change. The need to embark on these actions is further underlined by the findings in this week’s IPCC report.
Work is currently ongoing on the Climate Action Plan 2021; it will be published shortly (this autumn). A consultation process, namely the Climate Conversation - Climate Action Plan 2021, took place earlier this year (opened on 23rd March and closed on 18th May) to inform the development of the plan.
The Climate Action Plan will be Ireland’s roadmap. Actions for each sector of the economy will be detailed in the plan, which will be updated annually. The plan will set out, sector by sector, the steps we need to take to reach our targets – both interim and longer-term. Measures include: greater use of renewable energy; decreased transport emissions; changes in how we heat our homes; and changes to how we grow our food and look after our land. These steps will be challenging, but they will also create new opportunities.

Take Action

This is a wholly unacceptable response from a public office that has been elected to represent the people of Ireland. The Climate Crisis is too severe to simply be fobbed off by lazy PR lines that do not address the wider issue, nor acknowledge the latest scientific findings which call for drastic and urgent action.

As such, we are calling on all IrishEVs readers to email the following open letter to press.office@taoiseach.gov.ie to demand that they take this matter seriously, demonstrate that simple PR responses do not match the public’s demand for action, and to demand a suitable response to the questions set.

Please feel to copy & paste the following to press.office@taoiseach.gov.ie.

Open Letter

Dear Laura,

Following the publication of the report on Monday 9th August, the official Twitter account for the Taoiseach tweeted the following on Tuesday 10th August at 5:09pm:

It is clear that this response does not conform to the guidance set out in the IPCC report, which states that net-zero emissions by 2050 will be far too little, too late, by which time millions of people will be killed and billions more will have been displaced by the Climate Crisis.

As such, I am seeking comment on the following questions:

Why is the Taoiseach choosing to ignore the findings of the most informed scientific group on the planet regarding the Climate Crisis, and instead electing to double down on the 2050 neutrality target?

Does the Taoiseach recognise that this reinforces a public view that Fianna Fail has not lived up to its environmental and ecological commitments - as shown by the Climate Case Ireland ruling?
Given that the Climate Crisis has been public knowledge since the 1960s, does the Taoiseach believe that it is acceptable to still not have a climate action plan legally in place in 2021?
Does the Taoiseach's Office acknowledge that the politicising of Climate Action has a detrimental effect on lowering carbon emissions, and that such vague responses further undermine public awareness/understanding of the Climate Crisis?

I hope that you will take this enquiry seriously, and that you will respect the severity of the Climate Crisis enough not to send a generic PR response, as was previously sent to IrishEVs when they made their enquiry.

I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,

INSERT NAME