Letters to the Editor: One size fits all doesn’t work for climate change
The Environmental Protection Authority has stated that Ireland will certainly miss 2025 and 2030 emission reduction targets of 51% and will at best achieve 29%. Picture: Larry Cummins
Despite the naysayers, scientific evidence confirms the existential importance of climate change for the future of our planet.
It is also scientifically certified that Ireland’s contribution to global warming and climate change is minimal, according to the World Bank, the EU, and the foremost authority on climate matters, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Recently, climate experts from University College Cork and Met Éireann have agreed that Ireland’s contribution is "very small" and "tiny" respectively. It is also an irrefutable fact that the main current and historical culprits for global warming are members of the G7 and G20 countries, which are responsible for over 70% of all emissions.
The Environmental Protection Authority has stated that Ireland will certainly miss 2025 and 2030 emission reduction targets of 51% and will at best achieve 29%, even if the current Climate Action Plan is fully implemented.
It can, however, be legally and cogently argued in Ireland’s case, that the goals of the Paris Accord were counterproductive and unattainable. But, critically, that we comply with the more nuanced advice of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC), that countries should address climate change commensurate with their responsibility and means.
There is a growing acceptance now that the "one size fits all" Paris Climate Accord of 2015 unfairly grouped small nations like Ireland, with no historical responsibility and minimal impact on global warming, with the major global polluters.
It is by no means certain, given the current and predicted global political instability, that Ireland will have recourse to future finances to continue funding unattainable emissions goals.
It is unconscionable to perceive any Irish Government committed to survival, going cap in hand to the EU in 2030 with a cheque for €20bn, when it can be legally proven that the Paris Accord targets are both unfair and unattainable.
A more important certainty points to Ireland’s cities, towns and coastal communities being exposed to the destructive impact of climate change.
It is therefore vital to heed the advice of the UNIPCC, that resources are urgently redirected to adaption and resilience measures, including addressing our decrepit energy security and infrastructure, before the map of Ireland is substantially redrawn as a result of
impending sea rise.
John Leahy
Wilton, Cork
Paul Hosford’s assertions that “the outgoing Government did assent to one expansion of the franchise for Seanad elections” and that “the bill will extend the franchise for electing university members of Seanad Éireann” are misplaced.
The Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party Government did not assent to expanding the Seanad franchise — in fact, they spent up to €1m of taxpayers’ money over four years actively trying to prevent expansion of the Seanad franchise.
It was the Supreme Court’s finding in March 2023 that the 1937 legislation limiting the franchise to graduates of Trinity College and the National University of Ireland was unconstitutional, and its later finding in July 2023 that the legislation would fall at the end of May 2025, that forced the Government to act in the very limited manner which it eventually did.
It is not a question of assent — the alternative was that no Seanad election could be held after May 2025 and therefore no Oireachtas could be constitutionally formed, including one to pass legislation expanding the Seanad franchise.
Similarly, the new legislation is not a bill. It was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas and signed by the President in October last year, making it an act with full effect.
My question for Mr Hosford and all those who continue to rightly bemoan the lack of significant Seanad reform is — what have they done to progress the issue?
As the plaintiff in the successful 2023 Supreme Court case, I wrote to every senator and TD when the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill was published, pleading with them to reject the legislation and opt instead for the wider-ranging Seanad Bill 2020 which proposed to expand the right to vote in Seanad elections to everyone.
I spent months pleading with members of the last Oireachtas to do the right thing and force meaningful expansion of the Seanad franchise.
At the end of the day, a small handful of senators opposed the legislation as it did not expand the franchise to everyone.
Similarly, when it came to the Dáil, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, and the Labour Party opposed the proposal for the same reason. But the Government parties, along with a handful of Independent TDs, voted the bill through. In the Seanad, so few senators showed up for the final debate that a vote couldn’t even be called and the bill was simply passed.
Between the local elections and the recent general election, there was a unique opportunity for people to put pressure on candidates to back full expansion of the Seanad franchise and to ask candidates, particularly those from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, why they thought it was right to base Seanad voting on whether someone holds a college degree or not.
Had the Government’s legislation been delayed or rejected by a majority of members of the Oireachtas in October, the possibility was there for forcing the expansion of the vote to all as the clock ticked down to May 2025.
But it seems most people did not consider it an issue worth raising when the once in a lifetime opportunity presented itself last year.
I, for one, will continue to do all within my power to press for wider expansion of the Seanad franchise so that every citizen on this island, regardless of educational or socioeconomic background, will some day enjoy a right to vote in Seanad elections.
But the sad reality is that the once in a lifetime opportunity the Supreme Court gave for true Seanad electoral reform was squandered last year, and very few people seem to have even noticed.
Tomás Heneghan
East Wall, Dublin 3
The evening news bulletin on RTÉ on January 12 was followed, as usual, by the RTÉ sports bulletin. The lead sports item covered was the Champions Cup rugby clash between La Rochelle and Leinster in the Stade Marcel Deflandre.
This was followed by a soccer report and footage of the goals scored in the English FA Cup.
The third sport item covered was the All-Ireland junior and intermediate hurling finals between Watergrasshill and Tynagh/AbbeyDuniry and St Lachtain’s and Russell Rovers at Croke Park.
To reach an All-Ireland hurling, camogie, or football final in any grade is the pinnacle of a player’s career. It is a sporting achievement few attain and should be acknowledged appropriately by the national broadcaster.
These championship club games are the second-most important sports events in the GAA calendar, next only to the All-Ireland senior football, hurling, and camogie championships. Rarely do players get a second bite of the All-Ireland cherry.
For generations, the GAA in rural townlands, villages, and cities, both in Ireland and abroad, and exclusively on the premise of volunteer participation, turned the GAA into one of the world’s most successful amateur organisations.
As the national broadcaster and a publicly funded institution, RTÉ has a duty to project a distinctly Irish worldview. Giving Irish sports fair coverage on Irish television and radio would be a good start.
Tom Cooper
Templeogue, Dublin 6W
