Aoife Kelly-Desmond

Climate minister Darragh O’Brien has said Ireland will not achieve its statutory target of reducing emissions by 51 per cent between 2018 and 2030, nor the EU target of 48 per cent reduction.

The reduction will likely be “in the mid to high 20s”, a “somewhat significant amount off that target”, Mr O’Brien said, according to The Irish Times.

Aoife Kelly-Desmond, CEO of Community Law & Mediation’s Centre for Environmental Justice, said the minister’s admission “represents a colossal missed opportunity”.

“Successive climate action plans have failed to set out a sufficiently clear roadmap for effective climate action in line with Ireland’s legal obligations,” she said.

“The financial consequences of this failure, a potential €28 billion in fines, will be significant but the human cost is already being felt.

“The minister’s remarks come as data published by Met Éireann confirms that climate change directly contributed to several extreme weather events last year, including Storm Éowyn.

“The failure to meet our reduction targets means the implementation of tangible benefits like warmer homes, lower energy costs and accessible public transport will be delayed.”

The Centre for Environmental Justice is involved in a legal challenge brought by a grandfather, a youth climate activist and a child against the government’s climate action plan for 2024, which will be heard by the High Court on 27 and 28 January.

“Our case seeks to protect communities from the worst impacts of climate change by holding the Irish Government accountable to meeting its legally binding carbon budgets,” Ms Kelly-Desmond said.

“It is clear from the minister’s admission today that legal action is necessary to ensuring that Ireland’s obligations on climate change are taken seriously. Inaction on climate change is a direct threat to our lives and fundamental rights, and those of our children and grandchildren.”

She continued: “The gap between what the government has committed to doing and what it is actually doing is widening and we are running out of time.

“As climate impacts intensify and the window to remain within 1.5°C rapidly narrows, the absence of decisive action increases the risk that future policy responses will be abrupt, forceful, and disorderly.

“The climate crisis will not have an equal impact. It poses disproportionate risks to the livelihoods, health, food security and overall quality of life of the communities we work with.”