No wrecking balls, but we’re hellbent on prosperity

invest this surplus, protecting us against an ageing population, economic downturns and the climate and biodiversity crises to come.

This success has come despite massive challenges affecting the entire Western world. Following the war in Ukraine, natural gas prices peaked at more than 10 times their pre-pandemic levels, and the price of oil almost doubled.

I am proud our party spearheaded the response to these challenges, supporting every household with €1,250 of energy credits, cutting public transport fares for the first time in 75 years, and halving childcare fees. These measures were accompanied by a series of tax and social welfare interventions which meant every budget by this Government has helped the poorest most. Thanks to such actions, the acute phase of that crisis has now passed.

Choosing not to go Green would be economically reckless. It is cheaper to save the world than to destroy it and that is what is now at risk. Every scientist of note is raising the red alert about the dramatic change in our climate in the last year. Global sea and air temperatures, concentrations of emissions and indicators about the health of our natural systems are all going off the charts.

The one hope is that the green solutions to these threats are also unfolding with unexpected speed. A solar revolution, a switch to sustainable transport and the rise of regenerative agriculture are all now at hand. This is where all the jobs and investment are going and what we are increasingly good at as a country. Last year public transport numbers went up by 24pc, renewable power increased by about a fifth and the use of nitrogen fertilisers dropped by 27pc.

Provisional figures suggest that our emissions fell by 5pc last year, while our economy continued to grow ahead of our international competitors.

Each of the main contentions in Conor’s article is either wildly inaccurate or misleading at best.

It is not true that we are opposed to the provision of new water supplies to Dublin and the eastern region; we know we will need it because of the weather extremes that climate change will bring.

It is true that our electricity prices are high compared to some other countries, but the main reason for that has been our historic dependence on imported fossil fuels, not the development of our own local renewable power, which we are delivering at speed and scale.

It is also true that under this Government there has been a significant increase in spending on active travel and public transport. For decades we neglected both. This is why we have such bad congestion in our car-dominated towns and cities.

It is simply incredible that the former head of planning in the Dublin Institute of Technology seems to be opposed to such sensible spatial and transport planning. It is even more bizarre he seems to argue we should ignore the conditions already set by An Bord Pleanála with regard to the development of Dublin Airport. Does he want us to go back to the bad old days when the corruption of our planning system cost us all so dearly?

My party is working to ensure that Ireland gains an early mover advantage in this Green transition. In the same way that we advanced our economy by going from a closed economic model to an open one under the economic plans set by TK Whitaker and Seán Lemass in the 1960s, we now need to switch from an unsustainable to a sustainable model. If Ireland and Europe fall behind on this leap forward, we risk undermining our economic competitiveness as much as our natural systems.

We can prepare to benefit from the challenges of the future or we can cling to the ways of the past. In my view, the regressive assertions in last week’s article are the real “wrecking balls” and the surest ways to hobble this country’s economy and our people for decades.

Eamon Ryan TD is the leader of the Green Party