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Letters to the Editor: Climate action — we need to move from rhetoric to action

Letters to the Editor: Climate action — we need to move from rhetoric to action

Irish Examiner26-06-2025
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
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Wexford councillors oppose Triple Lock amendment as chair goes against his party to cast deciding vote

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Data flags hundreds of Russian 'shadow fleet' visits to Irish EEZ
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Irish Coast Guard data released Separately, data from the Irish Coast Guard released under the Freedom of Information Act and analysed by RTÉ,shows that the service also picked up signals from four western sanctioned Russian registered vessels in Irish EEZ waters since the turn of the year. RTÉ used vessel tracking website to trace the activities of these vessels around the time they were referenced in the Coast Guard data. The Valentin Pikul carried out three ship-to-ship transfers with a Russian bunkering vessel in Murmansk in northwestern Russia between 30 March and 10 April, one week after it passed through Irish EEZ waters on 23 and 24 March. The European Union-sanctioned Russian vessel Bratsk sailed through the Irish EEZ on 26 and 27 April, turning off its location transponder as it proceeded north off the Donegal coast. The Russian-flagged crude oil tanker Belgorod transmitted intermittent location data as it travelled through Ireland's EEZ on 6 and 7 May, two months after EU sanctions on the vessel were announced. The Primoyre passed the Irish coast twice between 13 April and 2 May, going 'dark' to location tracking services for periods while off the coast of Clare and later Donegal. Tony Cudmore, a retired Brigadier General with the Irish Defence Forces, said "an awful lot of this activity is intended to provoke and possibly to call into question the State's authority." "The danger is that a perception is being created that the State's authority in this area is being diminished," he added. He warned that there is also a significant environmental risk linked to the oil tankers, and that the clean-up cost would likely have to be borne by Ireland in the event of an oil spill while a vessel was uninsured. "These ships are like having vehicles travelling on your roads which have no NCT. They have no insurance. They probably have not been serviced correctly. It's quite possible that even their drivers, their masters, may not have professional competence," he said. As of May 2025, vessels transiting through EU EEZ waters, including Ireland, are required to provide proof of valid insurance even if they do not enter an EU port. CEO and co-founder of Windward, Ami Daniel, said some countries have recently started to take enforcement actions, and Ireland could follow their lead. "In the last month or two we are seeing the UK and the EU take a voluntary approach of questioning vessels who are transiting, on the radio - asking for their insurance coverage and other safety parameters," Mr Daniel said. In January, German authorities confiscated an oil tanker believed to be part of the Russian shadow fleet off the country's Baltic Sea coast. The Panama-flagged vessel, the Eventin, had been on its way from Russia to Egypt with a cargo of around 100,000 metric tons of oil, worth some €40 million. Ami Daniel believes Ireland could take other steps to challenge vessels operating without insurance or valid maintenance records. "It's not just enforcement at sea. It's enforcement on the flags [of convenience] and what they do with the flag states," Mr Daniel said. "The Irish Government can absolutely reach out to them and send them letters. For instance, are they allowing them to do ship-to-ship transfers and get fuel or other provisions while out there?" he added. The Department of Transport told RTÉ that the Irish Coast Guard, through its responsibility for search and rescue, maritime casualty and pollution response, actively monitors traffic in Irish waters and recognises the "risk that some of these vessels pose." "These risks include the increased possibility of a maritime casualty and search and rescue incidents from such vessels. For this reason, the Coast Guard has instituted specific measures to monitor the presence of these vessels and passage through and out of Irish EEZ" it said in a statement. Sanctions impact Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU, UK and the US have imposed restrictions on Russia's energy sector, aiming to weaken its economy and limit its ability to fund the war. As part of that, specific ships have been banned from EU territorial waters, denied insurance, and prevented from accessing certain maritime services as well as all European ports and territorial waters. Last week the EU announced its 18th sanctions package against Russia which includes an additional 105 vessels being banned from accessing EU ports and locks, or undertaking ship-to-ship transfers of oil. The UK also placed sanctions on 135 oil tankers in Russia's "shadow fleet" this week. In total, the EU has now imposed sanctions on more than 400 shadow fleet ships. All European ports are also effectively barred from temporarily storing, handling, or processing Russian crude oil and petroleum products, with limited exceptions. However, even with the sanctions, income generated by Russia's exports have remained stable. The federation exported 7.8million barrels of oil per day in 2021, a figure that had dipped only slightly three years later to 7.5million barrels per day, as it successfully redirected supplies to countries like China and India, according to the International Energy Agency. John O'Brennan, Professor of European Politics at Maynooth University, attributes that at least in part to the activity of the shadow fleet, and says that individual European countries could do more to step up enforcement at a national level. "Some national authorities within the EU have been less than vigilant about upholding those sanctions. That gap is one that Russia has been successfully able to exploit over the last couple of years," Prof O'Brennan added. Prof O'Brennan noted some Greek shipping owners have been prominent in selling their old vessels on to Russia to repurpose, rather than spending money on scrapping them.

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