Sir, – The arguments advanced by Seamus McKenna (“Dublin Airport passenger cap ignores reality of changing climate”, Letters, July 13th) do not diminish the fundamental challenge now confronting Ireland: how can the State reconcile expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and aviation capacity with its climate commitments?
McKenna is right that Ireland needs energy security, international connectivity and an economy capable of supporting a growing and ageing population. These are genuine considerations that must form part of any discussion about climate policy.
However, recognising these realities does not remove the need to assess whether major infrastructure decisions are consistent with the State’s climate goals. The concern raised by Orla Kelleher, Clare Kelly and Aideen O’Dochartaigh (“The Government is trying to undermine climate laws. President Connolly could stop it,” Opinion, July 9th) was not that Ireland should abandon air travel or energy security, but that the Government proposes to exempt particular projects from the Climate Act’s “climate sense check”.
Recent weather patterns underline why this matters. Following a winter of persistent rainfall and flooding, there were concerns about exceptionally high water levels in the Blessington Lakes and the implications for communities downstream. This was followed by record temperatures during late June and early July. Such events remind us that climate change is no longer a distant prospect but a present challenge.
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The question is not whether Ireland requires energy, connectivity and economic resilience. It is whether decisions taken today make future climate goals harder to achieve. Long-term investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and continued growth in aviation deserve careful scrutiny because their effects will be felt for decades.
Climate policy inevitably involves difficult trade-offs. That is precisely why the mechanisms created to assess those trade-offs should be retained. If climate objectives are to guide public decision-making, they cannot be set aside whenever other priorities emerge. – Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIG MCEVOY,
Clane,
Co Kildare.
