Climate Minister Eamon Ryan has said that Ireland’s economic growth and increasing population poses a “huge challenge” to the country’s climate targets.
The Green Party leader made the remarks during a Dáil debate this week on Ireland’s Climate Action plan, during which he said that “we are heading in the wrong direction, but we are turning this ship and State around.”
“It is challenging,” he said.
“The statistics I read this morning indicate that our economy has expected growth of 8% this year. That is not an excuse but a reality.”
He also went on to cite Ireland’s growing population through mass migration as another threat to the country’s climate goals.
“We have a massive increase in population,” he said.
“Our targets are not set on a per capita basis, they are fixed quantum. So when an additional 70,000 people come into the country, and in fact there are far more if we include migrant workers and others coming, as well as natural population increase, it presents huge challenges.”
The 70,000 figure refers to the expectation that Ireland will have taken 72,000 Ukrainian asylum seekers by the end of this year.
A total of 72,000 Ukrainian refugees are expected to have arrived in Ireland by the end of the year, with the Government grappling to find suitable accommodation for those still arriving this winter. https://t.co/76LR8M6HAS
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) November 24, 2022
In addition to this 72,000, a further 13,000 to 14,000 or so asylum claimants of other nationalities are expected to arrive by the end of December.
Almost 10,000 asylum seekers arrived into Ireland from countries other than Ukraine in the first nine months of 2022, the highest figure for such a period in the State for more than 20 years.https://t.co/D3zs6PZQFD
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) October 14, 2022
This is not including migrant workers and regular immigration. However, despite all of this, Ryan said “I believe we can do it.”
Previously, on November 2nd 2016, Ryan stated that Ireland should prepare to become an island of 10 million people, largely through bringing in asylum seekers “in scale.”
He said that a “global approach” was “the way for us to go,” and said that Ireland should “create a society here where we can bring in people.”
“We must start planning for being an island of 10 million people, including bringing people in as refugees in scale,” he said. “Not just 200 people, but a much larger number than that, and managing it as we do.”
The following day, on November 3rd 2016, Ryan reiterated a similar call, saying that Dublin should prepare to have its population doubled to 2 million.