GREEN ‘REVOLT’ ON EMISSIONS
Party could quit the Coalition over deal on agriculture levels
GREEN Party members could walk away from Government if it does not agree a deal on emissions targets for agriculture at the higher level.
Coalition leaders met for a third time yesterday in a bid to make a decision somewhere between 22% to 30%.
It’s understood talks resumed last evening.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he was “hopeful” Coalition leaders could agree on a deal on emissions targets for agriculture but that “nothing is certain yet”.
Sources said they were “trying their damnedest,” to end talks and come to an agreement “where all sides are satisfied with”. However, it won’t come as a surprise if a decision is not made until September as Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers suggested a pause may be required on talks for additional time.
Green Party Senator Pauline O’reilly said it is time for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael “to show their true colours” when it comes to emission targets and “not greenwash”. When asked on
RTE radio if the issue of lower emission targets for agriculture was worth leaving Government, she said she did not think the Green Party could “put up” with figures as low as 22% as “agriculture is unsustainable in Ireland at current levels”.
Ms O’reilly added: “At the end of the day this can’t wait, we need to stop talking, we need to agree on a target and get on with the action that’s required.” A Green Party source told the Irish Mirror they expected Mr Ryan not to “buckle” on the higher end of the target while a second source said “a meeting would have to be had if an unacceptable figure was decided.”
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said Ireland has to play its part with the “ultimate challenge” being in reconciling food supply with climate change.
He said: “So the Government would obviously like to see agreement on this but there are challenges, it is not easy, but we are determined to get this resolved and suffice to say all sectors of society and all sectors of our economy including agriculture will have to make that contribution.”