March 28, 2019 View all news Friends of the Earth has welcomed the landmark report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, published on Thursday evening.Commenting, Friends of the Earth Director, Oisín Coghlan said"The Oireachtas has given the Government an historic mandate for serious climate action."This is the Good Friday Agreement for Irish climate action. It is a cross-party deal to drive policy and measures to cut pollution across all sectors of the economy and society."I'm relieved, excited but also exasperated. My inner Seamus Mallon can't help also thinking this is 'Kyoto for slow learners'. Serious climate action for slow learners.We have a climate emergency because we now have to do in 10 years what we should have started 20 years ago. None of the Committee's recommendations are rocket science. Few are radical or new. All are overdue."As the Committee itself recognizes the 41 recommendations don't yet amount to Ireland's fair share of climate action. But together they represent a significant step on the path to implementing the Paris Agreement, if the Government adopts them and acts with the urgency the Committee has emphasized in their deadlines for specific actions."Now it's up to Richard and Leo. Will they make good on their recent rhetoric of ambition? Will they not just praise the school strikers but implement these recommendations in full and on time. Even that is only a downpayment on saving our children's future."This report is now the floor for acceptable Government action, Minister Bruton has no excuse to exclude any of these recommedations from his new action plan."Notes1) The report of the Committee is online here: http://bit.ly/JOCCAreport12) The detailed reponse of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition of which Friends of the Earth is a member is online here. Categorised in: Waste Food and Farming Energy Climate Change Transport