President Michael D. Higgins urged the Irish State and a group of students to “lead by example” on climate change, just weeks before he used the official state helicopter to fly from Dublin to Kerry.
On May 5th of this year, Higgins spoke as a keynote speaker at the DCU Centre for Climate and Society’s inaugural conference.
And now the moment we've been waiting for!
President Michael D. Higgins is now delivering his keynote address to the @DCU #DCUClimate2022 inaugural conference to launch the Centre for Climate and Society. You can watch the @PresidentIRL address live at @DCU. pic.twitter.com/2jeZ23mHZ7
— DCU Centre for Climate & Society (@DCUClimate) May 5, 2022
During this speech, Higgins told college students that Ireland must “lead by example” in the fight against climate change.
“I see a role for the State that is one of leading in climate action, championing climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation,” he said.
“The Irish State must lead by example if it is to have any credibility, any realistic hope of bringing its citizens with it on the challenging journey to a net-zero carbon future.
“Government departments and State agencies must become exemplars in climate mitigation given the whole-of-Government approach needed to curb our carbon emissions, as well as in climate adaptation given the State’s pivotal role as owners of land and infrastructure which is likely to be impacted by climate change.”
However, as reported by the Irish Mirror, on May 27th later in the same month, Higgins flew from Dublin to Kerry on the official state helicopter for a function. He then reportedly flew from Kerry to Clare on May 28th, the following day, despite this mode of transport causing significantly more carbon emissions.
Reportedly, his presidential car driven by Gardaí was also on site to drive him to the location when he arrived.
Notably, the official state helicopter is the Agusta Westland AW139. According to the website Aircraft Cost Calculator, to operate this helicopter for one hour costs €3,644.
The Mirror claims that the state helicopter was in the air for 2 hours in May, meaning that a journey from Dublin to Kerry, followed by Clare, would have cost the taxpayer almost €7,300.
This is despite the fact that you can currently book a Ryanair flight from Dublin airport to Kerry airport for as little as €31.
Higgins has long urged more focus on climate action, and advocated strongly in speeches for world governments like Ireland to take the crisis seriously.