Taoiseach ‘very keen’ to meet Green 7% emissions demand

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he thinks there can be a new government formed by June.

Speaking on The Late Late Show on Friday night, Mr Varadkar said: “The country actually needs it. . . The current Government is functioning well at the moment, but cannot go on like this forever. We are making decisions at the moment without a parliamentary mandate.”

Mr Varadkar said he was "very keen" to meet the Green Party's demand for a 7 per cent a year target for reducing carbon emissions. He acknowledged there are many farmers who will worry about what that might mean for them but added: "We need to see more ambitious climate action as an opportunity - to remake agriculture, to give much better and secure income to our farmers, creating lots of jobs, becoming a net exporter of energy . . . Climate action can be a big economic success story for Ireland. "

His comment comes after the Green Party held its third round of discussions on government formation. Speaking to host Ryan Tubridy, Mr Varadkar said he hoped the Green Party was "coming to a point where they would enter talks" but said: "Even if we do agree on a programme for government, most of the parties, including my own, have to get it ratified by our membership."

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Asked why he would not consider a coalition with Sinn Féin, Mr Varadkar said he was remaining true to his word given during the election. “Sometimes in politics, you have to go back on your word because of circumstances outside of your control. This isn’t one of those occasions,” he said.

Speaking in relation to the Government’s announcement that the current restrictions regarding the coronavirus pandemic will be extended until May 18th, Mr Varadkar said he would have liked to have eased restrictions further but it was not possible as the virus “isn’t suppressed enough”.

Mr Varadkar said Ireland is “going slower than other countries” in order to avoid “going backwards” but said there are elements in the later phases of the roadmap published on Friday that could potentially be brought forward.

Mr Varadkar indicated unemployment supports and wage subsidies put in place due to coronavirus could be extended as it “wouldn’t be right to unwind it before those sectors reopen . . . when people have the opportunity at least to go back to work”. However, he said the supports cannot last forever.

Asked about the trend of fatalities in nursing homes around the country, the Taoiseach said: “When all of this is over . . . we’ll find things that could have been done differently, better or not done at all”. He said it would have been “much better if we’d been able to do testing earlier but the capacity wasn’t there”.

The Taoiseach suggested the possibility of the 2020 All-Ireland football and hurling championships going ahead behind closed doors this year and confirmed it was still the plan to have the Leaving Certificate examinations go ahead from July 29th.

The reopening of the country could be more difficult than shutting it down, the Taoiseach said. “There are going to be difficulties, rows and disputes . . . But I think we can do it.”