"Green" policies are destroying this country

I do actually think out politicians were misguided in signing the Paris agreement. The idea that we compel our farmers to cull their herds, while South American countries will destroy huge areas of forest to fill the void left by our reduction in exports of food all because other politicians signed up to trade deals.

The whole thing is nuts and short sighted, and being driven by big buisness. Follow the money and you'll see who is driving the current agenda. Want to know how we reduce our negative impacts on the world. Stop needless consumerism where we are led to believe we must have cheap tat, with limited lifespans shipped half way around the world only to end up in landfill.

Report on BBC today, about confiscated vapes due to not meeting health standards, disposable items made from plastic each with their own battery. If the politicians were serious about the environment they'd start by reducing the amount of waste we inport.

100% correct. The disposability of pure shite is whats killing the environment. Plastics and man made fibres that feed into a 'Penneys' mindset for so many consumer goods and foodstuffs must end.

And its not as if we don't know how to manage our lives with long-life materials and upgradeable technology, we did it for many centuries.

Ireland's commitments to the Paris Agreement and other deals, concerning agriculture and some other minor stuff , have hamstrung our need to focus on the most effective priorities for ourselves, such as:

1) Massive investment in renewable indigenous energy. Never again should this Country be affected by external energy markets that drive up our inflation like this.

2) Waste management, beginning with avoiding inevitable waste, at source. We can and should be an exemplar for long-life and reuse.

3) Retrofitting buildings, on a mass scale, to make them as passive as possible and in the same breath turning thousands of tired old commercial spaces in modern, comfortable and safe homes.

4) Public transport - not pissing about with cycling and pedestrianisation, but putting in fast, cheap, frequent, reliable and safe mass transit in and between our big cities and towns, to make the car an inferior option in terms of both time and cost. Because you simply wont take cars off the road until that happens.

And if you want to look at the blame for the intransigence on that issue, point your finger at the State. Want to know how much new light and heavy rail is under construction in the State at this very moment? None. Zero.

Except the Paris Accord didn't say that Ireland was going compel farmers to cull their herds. Or what South African was going to do as a consequence.

And the Irish Dairy herd grew 40% in the 10 years up to 2022 (according to the farmers journal). It's a bit rich to be complaining about big business and consumerism when the industry you are saying has been unfairly targeted has grown in this way, and has grown largely because of big business and consumerism.

But you and I are on the same page when it comes to needless consumer tat. And I would go further, planned obsolescence of goods, fast fashion etc are all massive problems. I'm just frustrated to see the target of peoples ire when it comes to the climate predominantly aimed at those actually advocating that 'something' is done and giving a pass to those who are doing nothing.

You really do need to make an attempt to read what is posted.

I didn`t say it was impossible. I said if you use dodgy accountancy an thing is possible, and I haven`t seen anything from you that disputes that the ASAI found the 100% claim nothing other than a accountancy scam and told those companies to stop advertising and claiming it was anything other than that.

Neither have I seen anything from you to counter the assertions by green advocacy groups that classifying biomass as carbon neutral is far from the reality based on their findings regarding Drax.

But you appear to have no problem believing it is, so can I take it you would be in favour of us importing more of this biomass from Brazil and use it to the level where we would not just hit those 2030 CO2 reduction targets, but those of 2050 as well ?

Immigration has basically nothing to do with it. Its a red herring.

We had a housing and planning crisis before net inward migration ballooned and before the invasion of Ukraine and we'll probably have one after migration returns to normal.

It is a policy driven issue, a failure to lead, innovate and legislate sound and sustainable practice.

In case you hadn't noticed, the four bed semi in a dying breed, at least in Dublin and Cork. Residential buildings of ~20 storeys are springing up all over Dublin, inside the M50 - with lots more in the pipeline. Near the stations and the bus routes.

But you raise a good point, there is no reason families with a desire for space and land shouldn't live in the regions and rural places, but they will need state of the art communications to continue to work and be educated. Another investment that needs taking more seriously.

While its great that the harbour gets the investment for the wind farms, the man doesn't understand transport and logistics if he thinks the Ballina to Rosslare trainline will decarbonise transport to all the businesses along the route.

I would agree with a lot of what you say, but I would find it difficult not to see farmers annoyance and frustration with the E.U.

Just a few years ago the milk quota rule was dropped because the E.U. reasoned farmers were being unfairly disadvantaged by it in the global market but is now doing a complete about turn when that market is projected to grow even further where they see others increasing their herds to fill that demand.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

In case you missed it the title of this thread is "green policies are destroying this country". It not about emissions, its about the greens destroying out economy.

Eh - the same Irish economy that has technically entered recession?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-41153617.html

Like we can't blame the greens for th pharma drop, likewise we can't give them credit for the booming economy. What we can say is that very little of what the GP want or do will be a net benefit to the economy

For someone that mentions waffle a lot you certainly do a lot of it attempting to avoid answering any questions put to you.

Far as you are concerned under E.U. emissions bookkeeping biomass which provides 60% of E.U. green energy is carbon neutra,l yet you keep refusing to answer if you are in favor or not of Ireland importing more of this carbon neutral biomass that would have us hitting those E.U. target easily as well as have us generating 100% green electricity if we burned enough of it.

That would be much cheaper than this €200 Bn offshore plan, so why do you keep refusing to answer the question ?

@Charlie14 is the advocate for biomass in this thread so it would be better to address your (important) questions to him. This is the first paragraph in which I have used the word ‘biomass’ in this thread as far as I know).

I’m glad everyone has accepted that EU emissions are falling in line with Paris commitments.

can you provide references to three serious economic commentators (other than your good self) who attribute the contraction in GDP to Green Party policies?

Glad too that we can all accept that the economy has not been ‘destroyed’.

Where did you get the idea from that I was advocating biomass ?

But you are correct on it being first time you have used the word biomass. But that has been because you have been avoiding answering any questions put to you on it like the plague.

You have been saying that the E.U. will hit it`s emissions targets for 2030 with no problem. I have just been pointing out to you that 60% of E.U. green energy is from biomass. A source the E.U. classify as carbon neutral, but which green advocacy groups say is very far from the truth and that it is a major emitter of CO2.

As you believe the E.U. will hit those targets without any trouble, then you must believe that biomass is carbon neutral and those groups are wrong. So why so reticent on the question of you agreeing or not that we should be using much more of this source which would also see us reaching those targets, and could easily have us generating our electricity, that based on E.U. accountancy, would be 100% green ?