Fianna Fáil has promised a "green energy revolution" and to impose harsher penalties for breaches of environmental laws, in its environment policy document published today.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche was joined by Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, Mnister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey at the announcement of the party's environment manifesto.
On waste management, Mr Roche pledged to drive down the costs of waste management charges to householders and set a target to reduce landfilled waste from 65 per cent to 10 per cent. Expanded recycling facilities, segregated household waste collections and a new "waste regulator" were among the other policies set out by Fianna Fáil.
Mr Roche said that "although it's all very well making laws", enforcement is also necessary and that the party would review environmental legislation and how breaches of that legislation are dealt with. To this end he proposed:
- To review the level of fines and custodial sentences which can be applied
- To ensure that the lower courts can impose harsher sentences on corporate bodies
- To establish a Community Warden Service for all local authorities
- To establish community based 'litter watch' systems, which Mr Roche said was currently successfully operating in Wicklow.
Drinking water, landfill use and transport emissions were identified by Mr Roche as areas that required improvement.
On climate change, he pledged Fianna Fáil's policies would:
- Provide that one third of electricity consumed in Ireland will come from renewable sources by 2020
- Create new opportunities for our farmers by moving agriculture to a new dual system of food and power production
- Improve the energy efficiency of new Irish homes by up to 40 per cent and more
- Require that public sector to lead the way on energy efficiency.
On water standards, Mr Roche said Fianna Fáil would work over the next five years to "ensure that Ireland's waters are the most pristine in Europe".
Mr Roche said his party's aim was to "ensure that public and group water supplies are 100 per cent compliant with drinking water standards". He was, however, unable to give a date for the lifting of the water-boiling order from Galway as this was "a health matter for the HSE".
Mr Roche highlighted what he said were the improvements in Ireland's environmental record over the past two governmental terms and pledged his party, in government, to further improvements.
He said attitudes to the environment have been transformed and that Ireland had become a nation of recyclers.
"Global climate change has become a matter of everyday concern, not just a topic of inter-Governmental discussion. Over half of all Irish schools now participate in the Green Schools programme. We are 100 per cent compliant with EU air quality standards," Mr Roche said.
He said Ireland was placed 10th out of 133 countries for environmental policies.
Figures presented to the 2006 Davos World Economic Forum and the German Economic Institute reported that Ireland was the most energy efficient industrial nation in the world, per unit of GDP.
The Minister said he recognised, however, that "we have a long way to go before we can truly say that we are living on a completely sustainable basis".
Mr Roche said that all the policies outlined in Fianna Fáil environmental manifesto were "set out the pathway to improve our performance".
"They are achievable and practical. They are, in short, environmental policies that work."