A national information campaign on greenhouse gases, to warn the public of the effects of global warming, has been called for by the Green Party. Most EU states already have such a campaign in progress in advance of stringent measures to curtail carbon use, including new energy taxes.
The concept of global warming is so abstract and intangible that "real information needs to be communicated if it is to become a political issue", according to Green TD Mr John Gormley.
"If people are left in ignorance then the necessary political changes, which are required, will not get public backing.
"These changes include imposition of energy taxes and other measures which might otherwise be considered unpalatable."
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, accepted last week the national greenhouse gas abatement strategy, to be announced early in 2000, would affect all sectors, as the Republic attempts to fulfil its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr Gormley also warned that using "emissions trading" as a way for Ireland to comply with Kyoto would be "taking the short-term, politically expedient and massively expensive option".
As the industrialised north was the main cause of global warming, such trading would "simply be a means of evading our global responsibilities".
If Kyoto was to work, it had to mean the introduction of energy taxes.
If Ireland was to continue to allow rising carbon dioxide emissions, its Kyoto commitments could be exceeded by as much as 60 per cent, he said.
In such circumstances, international fines totalling several billion pounds could result.
Meanwhile an international conference staged by NUI Galway department of microbiology has underlined the ability of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology to reduce greenhouse gases.
Such technology is used to treat agricultural manures and slurries, food processing wastes and residues, and is widely used in other EU countries, notably in Germany.
It involves the use of naturally occurring bacteria to break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen. In Ireland there are only five farm plants using AD, but the number is Germany is more than 500, said Prof Emer Colleran of NUIG.
