Have Your Say on the Climate

On 23 December 2010, the long overdue Irish Climate Change Bill was published.

A public consultation will now take place until 28 January 2011 and I would implore everyone to read the Bill (it's only 15 odd pages) and tell the Irish Government what you think at climatebillconsultation@environ.ie.

Some positives are that Ministers will have responsibility for taking action on climate change in their respective areas, an Expert Advisory Body will be set up and progressive emission reduction targets have been proposed. However, from a first glance there also seems to be a few issues such as the fact that overall responsibility for climate change does not lie with the Taoiseach and the Expert Advisory Body's annual reporting function can be severely curtailed by Government.

Good or bad, let the Irish Government know what you think of the Bill at climatebillconsultation@environ.ie.