The minister for the Environment has condemned the US decision to abandon the Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Minister for the Marine described the decision as "crazy".
The Taoiseach was more restrained in his comments on the Bush administration's decision, which was widely condemned yesterday by the Opposition and environmental groups.
Mr Ahern told the Dail yesterday morning that he regretted the US announcement. "Ireland will continue to work with our EU partners and other like-minded countries to seek a way forward towards the full implementation of Kyoto," he said.
However, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, asked by Labour leader Mr Ruairi Quinn if he condemned the decision, said "absolutely, if it is a decision". He told the Dail during an adjournment debate on the issue he would be writing to the US ambassador outlining his concerns, and the Government "will work to ensure the concerns of the Government are fully understood at the highest levels of the US administration".
Meanwhile, on RTE Radio's Pat Kenny Show yesterday, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, said it was a "terrible disappointment that he [President Bush] would come out with a statement like that. You would wonder what priorities the American people have." At a time of growing public concern about environmental issues "it's crazy that he would come out with a statement like that".
The Labour Party leader, who raised the issue on the adjournment of the Dail yesterday, said the decision was "born of isolationism and the short-term commercial needs of those who backed the Republican Party. Yet at the same time it portrayed an administration that would be belligerent and aggressive in the conduct of its foreign policy."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, said that in so far as he understood the Taoiseach's policy position, "I support it and we should do everything possible within an EU context to ensure that the Kyoto objectives are implemented in full". The party's environment spokeswoman, Ms Deirdre Clune, called for an immediate meeting of EU Environment Ministers to respond to the US announcement.
Green Party deputy Mr John Gormley accused Mr Bush of acting "in a grossly irresponsible fashion in ignoring the biggest challenge that humanity faces". The PD chairman, Mr John Minihan, called on the Taoiseach to contact Mr Bush and urge him not to go ahead with his decision. Earthwatch called on the Government to "redouble their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while An Taisce called on Mr Ahern "to place the issue of global warming at the forefront of his agenda at EU and UN level".