There has been a warm welcome at the County Council for the adoption of the Laois Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.
However, there were shades of Saint Augustine’s ‘save me Lord, but not just yet’, in the nature of the discourse which followed.
The councillors commended Ms Orla Barrett for the commitment and thoroughness with which she has brought forward such a comprehensive strategy for their approval.
The Laois strategy will serve to feed into other such national policy objectives to address areas such as flooding, farming, forestry fuel and energy, and climate breakdown.
The local authority have also agreed to increase their Strategic Policy Committees from 3 to 4 and to include an SPC to address Climate Action and Community.
But for all the plaudits for the strategy and its worthy objectives, the devil it seems will be in the detail.
Cllr Caroline Dwane-Stanley wanted to know when they would be getting down to the nuts and bolts of the actions required.
Cllr John King noted that many Laois households relied on turf as a source of fuel and therefore there is going to be a cost involved in meeting climate action strategic objectives.
Cllr Padraig Fleming agreed that climate action is a most complex issue not least in the areas of agriculture, forestry and food. He asked when the Council are going to appoint a Biodiversity Officer. He was informed that this was not envisaged under the plan as such functions are currently shared by their Environmental Officer and Heritage Officer.
Cllr Aidan Mullins contended that climate change is the biggest issue facing them.
“The strategy is all very well but what about specific actions and adequate resources to implement them? We have to identify and define these and while it’s encouraging, it is rather vague.”
“We are in that era now,” agreed Cllr Paddy Bracken but he questioned how the required targets and objectives might be achieved.
“We will have to refurbish homes to the required BER standard. Who supervises, resources and polices it. At the end of the day can these targets be realistically achieved, even in terms of the Council’s own housing stock and many families are turf dependant as a domestic heating source,” he outlined.
“I welcome the document as well, we’re way behind in Ireland and we have to do it,” insisted Cllr Tom Mulhall, who felt there are way too many vehicles on our roads and motorways due to our rapidly increasing population. He said we need to move towards alternative transport options and more cycle lanes. He also felt that the silting of rivers and minimal maintenance was a big contributory factor to flooding.
Cows in the field passing wind
“It’s the buzz word alright,” concurred Cllr Willie Aird, with all the talk about inputs and outputs. “But what about Davos there, and they discussing climate change and climate action and they arrived at the resort in 986 jets and Gulfstream aircraft, sure that’s a joke and they going on about the cows in the field passing wind,” Chairman Aird was clearly none too impressed with the example being given by world leaders.
One hazards a guess that he is of the view that they have other crows to pluck before picking on his dairy herd.
He took the opportunity to reassure the public of the Council’s commitment on the matter.
“Laois County Council won’t be found wanting on this. We all walked or went to school on bikes or buses and then society gave way to the car. Cycle lanes are coming back and we must get back to that all over again.”
Plastic cups and public lighting
Cllr Noel Tuohy contended: “No contribution on climate change is too small, we must all play our part. Here in County Hall we are still operating with single use plastic cups.
“We have to be more than a talking shop and I would like to see us in the next election following through and doing away with the plastic posters, and not just be talking about it.”
Chief Executive, John Mulholland pointed out that the Council were committed to a range of adaptation and mitigation measures from flood defences to retro-fitting the housing stock.
He cited the example of public lighting where the local authority are switching the thousands of street lights to LED resulting in a 50% energy saving as an example of what can be achieved.
Cllr Aidan Mullins came back in to inform the Chair that each cow in the field was responsible for up to 120kg of methane gas in the atmosphere annually and that methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide emissions in terms of the negative impact of agriculture on climate change and the environment.
“Grand,” shrugged Chairman Aird, the rub clearly not lost on him.
SEE ALSO – NPA refuse to contribute to cost of road works for the Ploughing
