Attempts to forge agreement on a new international climate change deal are at a "make or break" stage, Minister for the Environment John Gormley warned today.
Mr Gormley said it was the "last chance saloon" for an agreement which could see more than 180 countries pledge to negotiate a deal on cutting emissions to be agreed by 2009.
Speaking in Bali, where ministers from round the world have gathered to negotiate a "roadmap" for an international deal, he said: "The time for rhetoric is over, it's now action, action, action and urgent action."
And he said it was important that references in the draft to the need for developed countries to make emissions cuts of 25 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020 were kept in, despite the US saying it didn't want to see them in the roadmap document.
"This is an agreement, you have to spell it out," he said, adding he wanted to see a deal which had the 25% to 40% targets in it and agreement to have negotiations to get a final international deal on emissions cuts by 2009. "We could find ourselves - as in any negotiation - in a stand-off.
"But I would hope that developed countries recognise they have a responsibility, that they have benefited from the resources for many years, had economic growth, now it's payback time," he said.
Mr Gormley acknowledged that Ireland's record on curbing emissions was not good, owing to a period of unprecedented economic growth with the Celtic Tiger, but said ambitious targets of 3 per cent annual cuts were something "we feel we have to do".
In his speech to the conference, Mr Gormley said there was an onus on developed countries to show real leadership. "Those developed countries that continue to prevaricate are guilty of a gross dereliction of duty, and future generations will judge them harshly," he said.
The Environment Minister backed the EU's leadership on climate change and congratulated Australia on its decision to sign up to Kyoto. He said political leaders must send a clear signal that the world was entering a new era, in which there was a real "paradigm shift" and in which there was a price on carbon.
"Here in Bali we must launch a process that leads to a comprehensive deal that addresses mitigation and adaptation, as well as technology and finance, as part of the building blocks of a new climate framework," he said.
PA