Opposition criticises FF on environment

The Labour Party today said that leaving Fianna Fáil in charge of the environment is "like leaving a fox in charge of the hen…

The Labour Party today said that leaving Fianna Fáil in charge of the environment is "like leaving a fox in charge of the hen house".

Labour Party spokesman on the environment Eamon Gilmore said Fianna Fáil's environment manifesto published today was "a list of all the things Fianna Fáil has failed to do over the last ten years".

He said the current contamination problem with Galway tap water was "likely to be repeated in many other towns and cities" and "building standards have been kept low, with future cost consequences for purchasers".

He concluded that Fianna Fáil's "promises for the next five years are not credible".

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Fine Gael called Fianna Fáil's environment manifesto a "cynical ploy" designed to "give the impression that it cares about the environment after a decade of ignoring it".

In a statement, the party accused Fianna Fáil of having "no credibility when it come to the environment and putting forward a bunch of promises that they have little intention of keeping".

Fine Gael said Ireland had "missed all our Kyoto targets - in fact, our greenhouse gas emissions are double our overall target."

It said that just 3 per cent of Ireland's primary energy supply comes from renewable sources.

It also said transport emissions are up 140 per cent since 1990 yet the coalition Government had "fudged the VRT labeling plan and ignored the National Spatial Strategy, forcing thousands into nightmare commutes".