Press Release: Act Now, Act Fair on Climate Change
- Updated: 3rd February 2020
Act Now, Act Fair on Climate Change
Pringle calls for a climate justice for Donegal in acting to address the climate emergency
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Independent candidate Thomas Pringle has called for immediate action to respond to the climate crisis and says that the responsibility to act and pay must not be dumped on ordinary people. “The corporations and big business that have pursued growth for profit at the cost to the planet must be the ones who pay and who change their ways,” he says.
Pringle was responding to a Climate Score survey of TD’s who served from 2005-2019 that looked at their voting record on climate-related bills,for which he was awarded a score of 100%. Fine Gael’s Joe McHugh scored 0%. Pringle, as an independent, also introduced and passed one of those bills: The Fossil Fuel Divestment Act.
He said, “Donegal will be greatly affected by the changes needed to respond to the climate emergency but the ordinary people, the workers and communities of Donegal, must not be punished for the inaction of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments that have put profit before people and planet.
“We were shafted during the austerity cuts and we are still paying for the banking failure. We cannot be made to pay for the climate emergency too. If Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael are returned you can be sure that they will put the cost onto ordinary people, workers and the community again.
“Immediate action is required; something the government doesn’t seem to get. They only supported my Bill once they saw that they were totally outnumbered. I am serious about climate change action but I am also serious that the cost should be borne by those who caused the problem.
“Among the solutions I have proposed in my manifesto ‘For Donegal. For the People’ are that we need a functioning, low=cost public transport system in Donegal that is regular, accessible to all people and all communities. Replacing petrol and diesel cars with electric cars is pie in the sky.
“Public housing has to be built and retrofitted with insulation and fossil fuel-free heating to ensure zero carbon emissions. Private homes need to be compensated for the cost of retrofitting their homes. Carbon neutral energy production needs to be put in public ownership and installed with community participation and increased community ownership. Our potential for offshore wind farms has to be prioritised.
“I have already called for CAP to be reformed to support more environmentally friendly farming with increased support for maintaining bogs, planting native hardwood trees and the flattening of the Basic Payment Scheme to support farming on marginal and hill farms.
“Climate change has to be addressed with climate justice. The transition to an environmentally friendly economy has to be fair to workers and communities. Rural counties like Donegal must not be hung out to dry again,” he concluded.
[ENDS]
Editor Notes
The Climate Score survey is available here: https://notherenotanywhere.com/
