*Photograph: Natasha Barton
CLARE’s Climate Action Plan has been adopted with strong endorsement from county councillors but its success relies on funding from a national level.
At Monday’s meeting of the County Council, there was widespread support for the Plan. Engagement was high for the public consultation part of the plan with 151 submissions received at the draft stage and 250 during the pre-draft stage, a figure much higher when compared with local authorities across the country.
Addressing Monday’s meeting, Chief Executive of Clare County Council, Pat Dowling stated, “As we’re all aware, this plan is a pivotal road map, we will provide leadership on this space going forward as we move towards our 2030 targets”. He believed the document “sets forth the pathway for positive change”. Dowling added, “It mitigates our own environmental impact but aims to create a more climate resilient county. We have ambitious targets to reduce our emissions”.
Climate action co-ordinator, Morgan Lahiffe led the small but dedicated team which included Chris Dixon O’Mara and Kelly Slattery to compile the document. The climate action page spans 85 pages with eleven objectives, five thematic areas and 120 actions. Siobhán McNulty during her tenure as Acting Director of Service for Physical Development assisted with the project.
Praise for the team on their “fantastic work” over the last year and a half was voiced by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG). “Ye held briefings with elected members and answered the phone every time they were requested, ye went out on public consultation and met the public”.
What has been produced is “a very impressive piece of work and very professional,” Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) stated. He believed the work was “very thorough” by the persons involved in drafting the plan. “It has significantly moved to reflect the local issues in Clare and aligns with national policy”.
Noting the praise from previous speakers, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) remarked, “There is a man here who is forgotten about, he has only come into the job here a few weeks ago and that is Alan Farrell”. He went on to acknowledge Lahiffe, Dixon O’Mara and Slattery for their efforts. Murphy commented, “We’re now finished the talk so we must walk the walk”.
Cllr Ann Norton (IND) said, “I must say it has been fantastic engagement with all of the team, they have been very open, very engaging, it is fantastic to see the action plan coming to fruition today, it is brilliant to hear that so many stakeholders have taken part including elected members and the community”. Cllr John Crowe (FG) lauded the “trojan work” done in drafting the plan.
Reservation was voiced by Cllr Michael Begley (IND). He questioned, “is the implementation of this plan under an impediment because of the fact that the Department itself which wants these plans drawn up, because they haven’t issued guidelines how can this be properly implemented and how can the communities be protected if the Department are negligent in not issuing the guidelines”.
Similarly, Cllr PJ Ryan (IND) warned of how plans have sat on shelves within the Council for “five or six years. The Minister and Department need to get off their backside and send us out something that is up to date,” he said of outdated wind energy guidelines.
Sourcing funding to bring the 120 actions within the plan to life must be the next target, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) insisted, “the whole emphasis of this is a better quality of life going forward, there needs to be change for the better”.
Describing it as “a top class piece of work,” Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) said, “What communities say has to be listened to. The Chief Executive’s report on this shows how clearly they were listened to”. Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) was in agreement, “this has been one of the best consultation programmes we’ve ever had in this Council”.
Thanking members for their support, the Chief Executive stated, “Clare in the context of climate action is not an island”. He believed the achievements of the plan would be plan would be subject to the amount of funding made available, “there has to be clarity at national level on how this will be funded”.
Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) proposed the adoption of the plan and this was seconded by Cllr Cillian Murphy.
