It took 15 years, nine attempts and the changing of many minds, but Ireland finally has a climate law that fully recognises the grim reality of global warming and requires fast and forceful action to address it. There was also a bit of, not quite climate change denial, but certainly climate change downplaying, thrown in. Six more bills followed which were also defeated or, more often, allowed to lapse without even the courtesy of a debate, before a government party finally came up with the 2015 Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. That's why governments very, very rarely and very, very reluctantly, ever put a target into law. But climate change is different and it demands a different response.

Source: Irish Independent October 08, 2020 01:30 UTC