David Ahern

Hi there

I'm the press officer with An Rabharta Glas - Green Left and I'm just wondering if you would be interested in a press release on the IPCC climate change report from one of our reps in Tipperary, David Ahern (photo included). I can be reached on 0861018017 if you need anything else.

Regards

Colm

PRESS RELEASE:

Old Politics not equipped for New Challenges: An Rabharta Glas

Climate breakdown pushed it's way onto our front pages as the sixth IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) report warned us that irreversible and catastrophic climate change is coming quicker than even they predicted. In spite of all the warnings, many are claiming that our governments are not responding quickly enough. David Ahern, a representative for an Rabharta Glas-Green Left, a new political party which is calling for environmental action with social justice, believes that this crisis is beyond our current politics. "We have a political system that is very client based and heavily influenced by lobby groups. The fact that every politician needs to be re-elected every four or five years means that addressing a problem like climate breakdown, which needs a twenty or fifty year plan, becomes almost impossible. The fact that Paschal Donohue's response to the report was to assure us that the government would continue to increase the carbon tax shows how unfit for purpose their thinking is."

Building a political party from the ground up is a huge task and David is under no illusions. "It's a massive challenge but we believe it's one we must take on, the cost of inaction is too high. We are taking a programmatic approach to change in Ireland so that means proposing a program of changes which can move us towards a society where wealth and opportunity are distributed more equally and our environment is allowed to heal. This will mean shifting the focus of state institutions from GDP to social well-being and taking the profit motive away from government decisions. In Tipperary this might mean communities designing and building renewable energies which they can then profit from, local co-ops providing food and employment for their area and creating jobs in retrofit schemes, habitat restoration and public transport. The reality is that changing to a decarbonised society is going to affect people's lives but if we're ahead of it, it can change them for the better."

Resistance towards environmental action has been strongest in rural Ireland with many people feeling unfairly targetted by measures such as carbon taxing, but An Rabharta Glas hope to put forward a form of environmentalism that people in Tipperary will call for. "Of course carbon taxes are unfair when you have nothing to switch to, it doesn't incentivise people it just hurts them and makes them feel negatively about any environmental action. If we can create opportunities and improve services in rural Ireland through environmental action then people will feel differently about it. That's where we have to start."

With unprecedented heatwaves causing crop failures and wildfires across America and biblical floods causing death and destruction worldwide, the reality of climate breakdown is dawning in Ireland. While many believe that we must act they find it difficult to make a difference on their own. "If An Rabharta Glas is going to have any effect then we will need people from all walks of life to get involved. This crisis will affect everyone and there's lots of ways we can make a difference."