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Irish Examiner
12 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Letters to the Editor: Climate action — we need to move from rhetoric to action
We're going to be hearing a lot about 'just transition' in the coming months. At week two of the UN Bonn climate talks, which will shape the road to the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, governments are starting to engage with the idea of a just transition. This is to be welcomed. The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat, but a burning reality for millions. Yet, the climate burden continues to fall unfairly on the world's poorest communities and those who have contributed least to global emissions and climate change. A just transition will ensure that the shift to a low carbon economy is fair, inclusive, and delivers job security and affordable food and energy access to the most vulnerable. But it also means rich nations stepping up with grants-based finance to support communities and countries most affected by climate meltdown, countries burdened by debt and denied climate finance. It also means a commitment to a serious shift away from fossil fuels. While the level of fossil fuel finance had been declining since 2021, last year saw two thirds of banks increasing their financing by a combined $162bn — a period when the world experienced its hottest year since records began. Ireland is shamefully playing its part in fossil fuel financing. A recent report by ActionAid Ireland and Trócaire revealed that, as of June 2024, an astonishing €3bn in fossil fuel investments were held by Irish-based financial institutions. Even more disturbing, 91% of that investment is tied to companies actively expanding fossil fuel operations in direct defiance of international scientific consensus on the need to limit global warming to 1.5C. Without a clear agreement on just transition at Cop30, the energy transition risks deepening inequality and further destabilising fragile economies. But a just transition framework, backed by funding, strong labour protections, and international co-operation, can turn this challenge into an opportunity for shared prosperity and resilience. It was encouraging to read Ali Sheridan, the chair of Ireland's Just Transition Commission, an independent advisory body established by the Government last year, affirm recently that it's essential any climate action must be fair for all. The world must move beyond rhetoric to action. A fair climate future must work for everyone, not just the privileged few. Karol Balfe, CEO, ActionAid Ireland, Dublin Criticism towards IHCA unwarranted Sarah Harte asserted in her piece ('The Gaza catastrophe is testing Ireland's conscience – and its credibility', June 11) that the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has taken a position of 'deafening silence in calling out genocide' in relation to Israel's systematic campaign of violence in Gaza. Such criticism is completely unwarranted. The IHCA has issued five statements since the beginning of 2024, condemning the unlawful destruction of hospital infrastructure and subsequent targeting of healthcare practitioners by the Israeli military. We are unequivocal in stating that the actions of the Netanyahu government and Israeli Defence Forces equate to crimes that contravene international law; accordingly, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant. We agree with the Government's assessment that these crimes against humanity include a genocide against the Palestinian people. In tandem with these repeated statements, I wrote for The Medical Independent a piece entitled 'We cannot be bystanders to genocide' (May 12, 2024), long before any Western government named it as such. In my first public address as president of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, I called for an end to the 'targeting of medical staff and hospital infrastructure in plain sight'. Several of our members are working on the frontline in Gaza hospitals, coming under live fire. We cannot be silent when it is these colleagues, their patients, and our Palestinian peers facing these desperate circumstances every day. We will always defend the right of healthcare practitioners to deliver care without fear of death or violence, and for their patients to live healthy dignified lives, whether that be in Ukraine, the Middle East, or any other conflict. Gabrielle Colleran, President, Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Dublin 14 You are as old as how you feel 'You are as old as you are portrayed' may be true ( Editorial, Saturday 21), but what about hitting the dance floor well in to your 80s and 90es as reported by an international newspaper last week about a group of Belgian nursing home residents as they danced and jived to 'bass-heavy' music among their much younger counterparts at a nightclub in central Brussels? You are as old as how you feel and your attitude to doing new things. 'There's no real age limit for knowing how to party, ' says the manager of the nightclub where Papy Booom — a Belgian non-profit that aims to address loneliness among older people and create more opportunities for fun — held their night out. Bring it on I say! Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry Industry crying out for tradespeople I have spent 39 years in the construction business, 33 of them as a self-employed contractor. To me, the elephant in the room is the lack of tradesmen and also general operatives in this sector. When I started out in 1986, we spent our first year in Anco — a government-based training facility and Cork RTC, now MTU. It was a great grounding for green lads starting out. Unfortunately, now we are moving all our children into college because of their popularity and encouragement from secondary schools to encourage kids to go there. There is also a perception out there, from parents mainly, that the construction industry is beneath their child. It's OK for them to train as a engineer/architect/quantity surveyor or possibly some of the physically easier trades of electrical or plumbing. The reality is we are crying out for groundsman, carpenters, blocklayers, and plasterers — the latter two are not a dying trade and will become extinct in the next 10 years or less, which will stagnate the construction industry. What needs to happen is for the Government to financially incentivise builders and tradesmen to employ and train young people. What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here At the moment, tradesmen as a whole — there are exceptions — aren't interested in putting the time into training an apprentice. The Government also needs to hold the revenue received from the construction industry, and use it to reinvest in the sector when there is a downturn in the economy and invest in public buildings such as schools, libraries, and hospitals to get better value for money during those times. More importantly, it will keep our building workforce in jobs. This process would encourage young people to go into the sector for stability, and also make parents more content in seeing their child enter the sector. Finally, a strong advertising campaign is needed to get young people to join the industry. Working in the industry can be deeply satisfying, working with your hands and brain and getting a lot of satisfaction. If you are prepared to work hard, listen, and learn, there are great opportunities to earn a good living and become financially secure after a few years of working, compared to going to college and having massive financial outlays in the process and struggling financially in poorly paid jobs at the end of your four or five years of college. Stephen McGrath, Fermoy, Co Cork Landing big tax bill The Connacht Tribune recently reported the dismay of Mayo councillors at the €385,000 that their council must pay to Revenue for their unused residential zoned land. If a council with an annual budget of €213m for 2025 alone cannot make use of its lands, what hope is there for mere mortal private developers without the fairy god-exchequer to fund them and who have things like tax to deal with. Local authorities have cumulatively paid over €11m in residential zoned land tax (RZLT) — clearly, councils have land they are not making use of. Remember that they have deemed their own land ready and suitable for housing. The Land Development Agency is seeking powers to buy private land, but this is a distraction from the real land hoarding done by the many arms of the State itself. Politicians created the ridiculous RZLT. That they find their own councils on the receiving end is a most pleasing karma indeed. Alex Wilsdon, Dublin Rd, Kilkenny Read More Letters to the Editor: My mother had a happy experience of residential care
Irish Independent
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
‘The next critical conversation': chair of Just Transition Commission says it's essential climate action is fair to all
The transition to a way of living, working and travelling that doesn't produce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate breakdown asks more of some people than others. It is inherently, if unintentionally, unjust. And that's exactly what concerns the Just Transition Commission. 'We're very strong in Ireland on what we need to do in terms of climate action,' said commission chair Ali Sheridan. 'But how we're going to do it, who is going to be impacted, how are they going to be supported – that's the next critical conversation.' The Commission is an independent advisory body established by the government last year with 11 members appointed for a three-year term beginning last October. They come from a range of backgrounds, representing workers, farmers, business, academia, community organisations and children's rights. Its forerunner was the one-man Just Transition Commissioner post, assigned to Kieran Mulvey in 2019 specifically to oversee the government's response to the loss of jobs in the Midlands when Bord na Móna announced it would be shutting down its industrial peat extraction operations as part of its 'brown to green' transformation. But the concept of just transition originates with the international labour movement in the 1970s when employers in polluting industries shut up shop and left workers high and dry rather than bear the costs of new environmental regulations. Regulations were a benefit to society at large but that was little comfort to unemployed workers who, trade unions argued, should be supported to build new livelihoods rather than be simply sacrificed for the greater good. Around a decade ago, just transition became more closely associated with fossil fuel industries when countries such as Spain and Germany shut down coal mines to focus on developing renewable energy. ADVERTISEMENT And then the term entered public conversation in Ireland with the winding down of the peat industry. Now it is recognised that it has much wider implications. Whether it's determining which communities get flood protection first, what counties must host the most wind turbines, whose homes should be retrofitted for energy efficiency or where a new public transport service should be developed, Ms Sheridan says the principles of just transition must be central to decision-making. Government policy supports this view. The Programme for Government states that the Coalition will: 'Support the Just Transition Commission's work to listen to communities, address their concerns and ensure they benefit from the green transition.' The national Climate Action Plan has many references to just transition and its importance in implementing climate action measures. Legislation underpins this. The Climate Act states that the Government 'shall have regard to the requirement for a just transition to a climate-neutral economy which endeavours, in so far as is practicable, to maximise employment opportunities, and support persons and communities that may be negatively affected by the transition'. But Ms Sheridan has concerns around the strength of that wording. 'The current version being used in the Act and being used by Government is potentially very limited and very reactive in nature,' she said. 'Yes, it may soften the negative impacts of just transition, but it runs the risk of missing the much bigger opportunity we have to actually make just transition central to all our climate action going forward and all the co-benefits it can bring.' In its first report, published today, the Commission stresses the need for a clearer definition and vision for what just transition means in an Irish context. In meeting communities to prepare the report, the members found enthusiasm for the idea but also 'some level of scepticism and distrust' around it. 'If I was to ask you who is the most vulnerable to the climate transition, what sector, what type of person, what place, I don't think the answers to that are clear enough right now,' Ms Sheridan said. To that end, the commission has begun 'deep dives' into various sectors – agriculture, transport and energy to start with – and will begin publishing their findings later this year. Vulnerabilities can be wide-ranging, from the physical impacts of climate change on land and property to the financial burdens of trying to go green. 'We are going to be asking a huge amount of society in the very near coming years,' Ms Sheridan said. 'Every sector, every place, every person is going to be touched by this transition. 'We're only going to build the acceptance and appetite for what's to come if we put people and communities and places at the centre. 'So just transition is not a 'nice to have' – it's a critical part of delivering climate action.'
RTÉ News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Call for 'ambitious' strategy for climate-neutral economy
The Just Transition Commission has called on the Government to urgently provide a visionary, ambitious, just, and joined-up strategy for the whole-of-Ireland to transition to a climate-neutral economy. In its first report, it says that the Just Transition Strategy must uplift communities and enhance lives by creating better jobs, warmer homes, cleaner air and a more resilient society. The commission is an independent advisory body appointed by the Government, to focus on bringing new thinking and a constructive approach to helping the whole of Ireland move faster and fairly on climate change. Its introductory report highlights that the concept of a "just transition" is not a new concept in Ireland, but until now it has largely been associated with the midlands and the shift away from peat-based industries. It says that to move forward, the conversation and awareness levels must shift beyond the midlands, ensuring that just transition becomes a national priority for the whole of Ireland. Ali Sheridan, Chair of the Just Transition Commission, said that just transition cannot be reduced solely to energy policy or even climate action. "It requires a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities across different sectors, communities and groups, such as rural, farming, coastal, the midlands, people on low incomes, members of the Travelling community and other marginalised groups, among others," she said. The report says that there is a need to integrate just transition into all public messaging and communication around climate action and to build on the National Dialogue on Climate Action programme in terms of accessibility, affordability, accountability, and use of findings. The commission is calling for the establishment of indicators to support the monitoring and evaluation of Ireland's progress towards a just transition that accounts for those most affected or vulnerable to the transition.
