Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has defended his trip to Doha for global climate change talks.
He criticised some press reports focusing on the “value of sending a delegation” to Doha last week, saying it
was a “cheap trivialisation of one of the major challenges the world faces”.
The Minister made the comments at a hearing of the committee on environment. He said he met environment ministers and MEPs from other EU countries and was able to discuss priorities for Ireland’s presidency of the EU in January.
An important agreement was reached on extending the Kyoto Protocol climate change limits.
The total cost of accommodation was about €16,000 while the cost of economy class flights was €5,000.
Four officials attended the full conference over 16 days while the Minister attended for a week.