Tag Archives: IFA
Doffing the ministerial cap to the lobbyists
I contributed the below piece to The Journal in late July by way of a commentary on the ongoing battle by Ireland’s agri-industrial lobby to dodge having to play its fair share in meeting Ireland’s emissions reductions standards. What’s most … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming
Tagged Charlie McConalogue, Eamon Ryan, EPA, IFA, methane, New Zealand, Origin Green
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Hard cheese for environment as Big Ag juggernaut steamrolls NGOs
This piece ran on Desmog.com in mid-April. This site has, since 2006, sought “to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science and solutions to climate change”. And in Ireland, nowhere is this pollution more pervasive than the smog … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Aarhus Convention, An Taisce, dairy, emissions, Glanbia, IFA, methane
5 Comments
Stirring up tensions between farmers and environmentalists
This piece appears in the current edition of Village magazine. As a rule, I steer clear of articles focusing on individuals, preferring when possible to stick to the issues rather than personalities. Given the central role of RTÉ presenter Damien … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Countrywide, Damien O'Reilly, IFA, IFJ, RTE
3 Comments
Climate Change is (Sort of) Affecting Ireland’s Election
My pre-election analysis of where the parties stood on the climate issue was published on Desmog.uk. LAST MAY, Ireland was among the first countries in the world to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. In September, over 20,000 students took … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Election 2020, Frank Mitloehner, Green Party, IFA, Sinn Fein
2 Comments
Failing farmers, the environment & wider society
My article on our broken agricultural system, as it appeared in the Irish Times on April 7th last. Getting a decent splash on the main OpEd page in the Saturday edition (the IT’s most read day of the week by … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged agriculture, Bord Bia, dairy, IFA, Origin Green, Phil Hogan
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Unmasking Ireland’s real ‘climate radicals’
Below, my article as it appeared earlier this month on the OpEd page of the Irish Times. I’ve been intrigued for many years at the way some people are automatically pigeon-holed as outliers and ‘radicals’ in certain debates. Nowhere is … Continue reading
From pipsqueaks to bullies: farm leadership, 50 years on
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Ireland’s National Farmers’ Association (NFA) was a political pariah, with then Taoiseach, Fianna Fail’s Jack Lynch threatening to have the organisation proscribed, a move that would have placed every farmer in the … Continue reading
Never mind the bullocks, Enda isn’t cowed at COP
And so, to Paris. COP21 kicked off on Monday with each of the almost 200 world leaders chipping in their opening contributions. The feeling at the last mega-COP (in Copenhagen in December 2009) was that leaders only engaged at the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged agriculture, COP21, Enda Kenny, GHGs, IFA, Paris
1 Comment
Come back, Liz McManus – your country needs you!
In case you haven’t heard, our current Minister for the Environment is a Labour party TD called Alan Kelly. He is the man who brought us the no-lobbyist-left-behind Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, a piece of draft … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Alan Kelly, Alex White, Climate Bill, Eamon Ryan, IFA, Liz McManus
11 Comments
Hogan’s U-turn on climate is short-sighted and damaging
Below, my article as it appears in today’s Irish Times: WILL THE real Phil Hogan please stand up? On June 16th last, responding in the Dáil to questions from Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris on whether climate change legislation was being … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Green Party, IBEC, IFA, IPCC, John Sweeney, Mary Robinson, Phil Hogan
24 Comments
The Viscount, the architect and Phil Hogan
The shocking images from Japan since Friday are a frightening reminder of the fact that, for all our sophistication, even the most technologically advanced societies exist at the caprice of nature. Seeing large tracts of the north coast of Japan … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Conor Skehan, Fine Gael, IBEC, IFA, Monckton, Neil Walker, Phil Hogan, sceptics, TCD
9 Comments
A Climate Bill Post-Mortem
Now that the Climate Change Response Bill 2010 has officially been consigned to the scrap heap, it is a good time to take stock of how the public debate around the Bill played out. As has already been discussed on … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged abatement, farming, IBEC, ICMSA, IEA, IFA, Oil, SEAI, Teagasc, Voiceireland.org
10 Comments
Denial and self-interested delusion on Climate Bill
The prolific US author, Upton Sinclair was a shrewd observer of human nature, as evidenced in his classic retort to vested interests: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Climate Bill, Danny McCoy, farming, Gavin Harte, IBEC, IFA
14 Comments
Labouring under some misconceptions
What has meat go to do with climate change? At first glance, not a lot. But dig a little deeper and you’ll soon find that the sharp increases in meat consumption in the last decade or two is a major … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged agriculture, CO2, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, emissions, IFA, IPCC, Labour, meat, Sherlock, Tuffy, vegetarian
4 Comments
