As storm-floods impact Ireland again, political parties must step up to bring people with us on climate action

Greens call for other parties to ‘bring people with us’ on real climate transition, and not simply pay lip service to the changes that are needed at election time. 

The Green Party has claimed that it is the only party that has worked to support communities in the climate transition - tackling cost of living issues in ways that also work to bring down emissions and restore nature.

The Greens have delivered a world-beating retrofit programme, cuts to public transport fares, the roll-out of rural public transport, cuts to VAT on solar panels and heat pumps, and subsidies for forestry and organic farming. 

Green Party leader, Roderic O’Gorman said:

“There is no bigger cost of living crisis than the impact of climate on our homes, our businesses, our communities. We’ve heard a lot from other parties during the campaign on the need to bring people with us in the transition to a climate neutral Ireland. But usually that’s a convenient excuse for their own foot dragging and delays tactics. For other parties there’s always a reason not to take the next step, even when it’s desperately needed.”

“People have said that there’s no real choice in this election, but amongst the larger parties there is only the desire to either do the bare minimum or avoid tough decisions. In this election, voters can choose to put a party back in power who will act, and will seek to bring help to people in their daily lives in making the transition a fair one. Only the Green Party can deliver this, and that’s why it’s so important to vote number 1 for Green candidates next Friday.”

O’Gorman’s comments come as the Green Party announced their ambition to make solar panels free for 200,000 low-income households, to introduce a new ‘climate ticket’ to cut costs for regular users of public transport, and to allocate an additional €10 billion for investment in bus and rail projects.