Green Party or Greenwashing Party?

The quote was from 2016, so the population of the RoI was 4.7m. And its jumped to about 5.2m now. But I see now its was an "island" reference, so in 2016 that be about 6.5 million total (NI's population is rising also, but at a much slower rate for some reason...)

The population is indeed going up still, hence the growth projections. But its government policy which allows this. Birth rates are below the 2.4 replacement rate, and still falling. Immigration is driving the growth, so having immigration policies like Australia would be one means of slowing this.

(most people arent "for" or "against" immigration - rather concerned about the rate of it. too much, too little etc)

Any government serious about people's impact on the environment should be looking to regulate population growth.

But Eamonn Ryan is going beyond merely saying, "lots of people are coming to Ireland, c'est la vie, lets plan for it", he's clearly saying we should proactively expand the population, "bringing in people" "in scale".

A mentioned already, government policy allows it to grow. Since immigration is driving the unprecented population growth, having immigration policies which are skills/points based etc, would be one way of slowing it.

But, and this is the key point on the environmental impact, Eamonn Ryan is going beyond merely saying, "lots of people are coming to Ireland, c'est la vie, lets plan for it".

He's clearly saying we should proactively expand the population, "bringing in people" "in scale".

So preventing people going to work, leaving their children tom school or checking on their elderly parents etc is no harm as long as there was no damage as such?? That seems to be typical Green strategy. Nonsense.

Who gives a shyt if we miss the targets? The whole World will miss the targets.

It was a massively overplayed hand coming up with pie-in-the-sky solutions that were never realistic or achievable without massive economic damage and a real reduction in living standards.

Ordinary people, whether in Kolkata or Shanghai or Jo'burg or Dallas, were never going to tolerate that.

You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, or the Genie back in the bottle. Humans are innovative and aspirational creatures, we do not take backward steps. And that's why when it comes down to the nitty gritty of these targets and what it takes to try and get next or near them, ordinary people all over the World are just shrugging and getting on with their lives.

Its not all bad, there are things in there that should be pursued for their economic benefit, such as energy independence and hybrid working. The cost of the rigged international oil market and the cost of commuting are among the biggest waste of earned wealth. Reducing the impact of both works to benefit people without much of a downside.

And from that the rest will follow over time, for the better and as part of natural societal development. I mean it's only 50 years since steam trains and pre-decimal currency died out. Its only 30 years since computers became an integral part of workplace life and even less for homes and schooling. Yet we could never imagine going back to a time before they were there.

Another human innovation is going to have to be how to cope with the changes in global average temperature and the impact on climate, if they do bear out in line with the scientific consensus. And we will cope. But we will do it by moving forwards, not by going backwards. And certainly not because some pinhead dressed in an Italian wool suit and conveyed in a BMW 7-Series preached at us that we must.