MEP Election: Where do Midlands North-West candidates stand on climate?

May 23rd, 2019

Irish voters will flock to polling stations in their thousands this Friday to choose thirteen candidates to represent Ireland at the European Parliament.

In the Midlands-North West region, seventeen candidates will compete
for the four available seats.

Ahead of the vote, Marianne Foody looks at some of the key candidates’ stances on climate and biodiversity issues.


Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan
Photo: Niall Saregnt

Independent – Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan MEP

In a recent
report by Climate Action Network (CAN), Luke Ming Flanagan was
ranked strongest when it came to voting on environmental issues with a 63 per
cent record in favour of climate and energy related amendments.

He believes that “short food chains’’ are the
way forward for Ireland and is not in support of Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
trade agreements.

According to the European Commission’s official impact assessment,
the TTIP partnership will see millions of extra tonnes of CO2 pumped into the
atmosphere.

The deal would also see a massive increase in imports of gas and
oil from the United States, including from tar sands – the most
carbon-intensive of all fossil fuels.

Flanagan described the advocating of these deals as “the ultimate
hypocrisy’’ as they would see grass-fed cattle from Europe replaced with beef
from South American feedlots.

“Similar food products being shipped halfway
around the globe and meeting each other in the high seas in passing, burning up
vast quantities of fuel, while berating the farming community at local level
for not doing enough to mitigate climate change’’ he said.

With regards farming, Flanagan is not against
turf cutting and believes that how the Government handled affected communities with
turbary rights was inappropriate. In 2014, he said that he “wouldn’t ask anyone
to stop cutting turf’’ and wants to see the government work with communities
instead of a “bulldoze’’ option.

Flanagan is in support of offshore
wind-turbines and the introduction of standardised hemp into Ireland with a 0.3
per cent THC level. He is also anti-fracking and anti-GMO.

At the recent Environmental Pillar hustings,
he was outspoken about the Government’s climate failures including a forestry
plan that saw the plantation of hundreds of Sitka Spruce trees in Co Leitrim.

On a personal level, Luke Ming Flanagan is a vegetarian and takes the train regularly.

Saoirse McHugh Photo: Niall Sargent

Green Party – Saoirse McHugh

Saoirse McHugh is from Achill in Co Mayo and
is the youngest of the candidates. McHugh’s vision is one that prioritises climate
issues as well as rural communities in Ireland.

“Climate breakdown is the most critical
challenge humanity has ever faced. However, it presents an enormous opportunity
to the sometimes forgotten communities in the Midlands-North-West,’’ she said
at the Pillar hustings in Carrick-on-Shannon.

She has promised to prioritise climate action
that will benefit rural Ireland and has urged small farmers to “wake up” and
realise that the big farming lobby doesn’t represent their interests.

Speaking on the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) funding she said that there is a “big structural problem’’ in the way it
is allocated which “benefits large farmers disproportionately’’. “It [CAP] does
not incentivise carbon sequestration or biodiversity benefits to a sufficient
level’’.

Speaking at the hustings, she said that
currently “our system [to tackle environmental issues] is fundamentally
flawed’’ and spoke about the level of hypocrisy seen in the current Government.

“The Government is banning plastic straws
while they’re granting off-shore drilling licences. There’s nothing realistic
about sacrificing the only planet we have for large wealth creation. It is
bonkers’’.

Her main priorities are energy sovereignty, a
just transition and resilience and would to see the people of Europe take
control of their own energy.

To do this in Ireland, she is calling for a revenue
neutral carbon tax, a phasing out of all fossil fuels, and an upgraded energy
grid that can support renewable generation.

To support a just transition, she believes that a European-led scheme should be rolled out to retrain and assist communities so that “nobody gets left behind’’ in the transition away from fossil fuels.

Matt Carthy MEP Photo: Niall Sargent

Sinn Féin – Matt Carthy MEP

At the Environmental Pillar hustings, Carthy spoke
about the difficulties faced by the people of Leitrim who had been let down by State
forest policy that ended in “corporate land grabbing’’ and an influx of
‘’invasive forest species’’.

When asked what Carthy would change about the
EU, he said that he would stop the investment of Irish and EU money into the
fossil fuel industry completely.

“If the political will is there, the European
Parliament could say ‘No’ to the EIB and ECB in order to divest away from
fossil fuel industries and dirty business.’’

He also maintained that “corporate lobbyists’’
should be banned from the European Parliament in Brussels and the EU should
disengage from “any trade deal’’ that doesn’t contain sustainable goals.

Speaking specifically about the Mercosur deal
he said ‘’up to over 200,000 tonnes of beef would be shipped here from
Brazil’,’ where they’re actually ‘’cutting down rainforests’’ to produce it.

Commenting on the EU/US trade deal (TTIP) in
2016, he said that it could have “major negative consequences for Irish
agriculture, workers’ rights, food safety, and the environment” in Ireland.

Carthy also wants to see the €4billion
military funding for PESCO go towards other issues such as eco-issues or the
housing crisis.

In February 2019 he called on the Government to condemn the UK’s consideration of sites across the North as potential dumping grounds for radioactive nuclear waste.

MEPs Lynn Boylan and Mairead McGuinness at Brexit and Environment Conference in Dundalk, 2017 Photo: Niall Sargent
MEP Mairead McGuinness (r) at Brexit and Environment Conference in Dundalk, 2017 Photo: Niall Sargent

Fine Gael – Mairead McGuinness MEP

McGuinness is the Vice President of the
European Union and sits with the European People’s Party (EPP), ranked as
‘Dinosaurs’ in the recent CAN report.

McGuinness is in favour of banning single-use
plastics and decarbonisation in Ireland’s transport sector.

She welcomed the European Parliament vote in
favour of a 40 per cent  reduction in emissions
from passenger cars and vans by 2030, saying that the vote “benefits the
agriculture sector’’.

The huge CO2 reductions necessary to meet our
climate targets “cannot be borne by agriculture alone and ambitious reductions
in transport are crucial,” she said.

She has called for an end to the “artificial
divide’’ between farmers and environmentalists saying that what farmers need is
“help and support’’ including advisory systems which would focus on combining
“environmental delivery with production’’.

In 2018, McGuinness tabled an amendment to increase the CAP budget in order to address climate issues which was backed by MEPs.

Fianna Fail – Brendan Smith TD

Smith is in favour of free trade deals such as
CETA, TTIP as well as EU deals with Japan and Singapore. He believes that
exporting goods and agri-products/services is the best way of supporting Irish
business and agriculture.

“Trade with Canada, Japan and Singapore is already worth €6.1
billion.  These new deals will allow our
businesses and farmers dramatically increase their exports. SF need to be
honest about their lack of support in the European Parliament for Irish workers
and Irish exporters’’ he tweeted recently.

Smith’s hometown in Cavan is home to many beef farmers and he has spoken
publicly about the Mercosur deal which would see thousands of tonnes of South
American beef imported to the EU.

This is a priority for his border community as the beef industry may
already be taking a hard hit because of Brexit.

Independent –
Peter Casey

Casey believes that a carbon tax is not the answer for Ireland to tackle
climate change and described it as “a tax on the poor”.

He has said that he wants to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
as it is a “one size fits all’’ model that he says does not work for all Irish
farmers.

Casey commented on the allocation of sustainable fishing quotas in Europe and said that Irish fishermen were “absolutely shafted” with this development.

Dominic Hannigan Photo: Niall Sargent

Labour – Dominic Hannigan

If elected to European Parliament, Hannigan would call for an “EU Just
Transition Fund’’ to address climate change in a way that doesn’t punish small
businesses and families.

Speaking at the recent Environmental Pillar hustings, Hannigan said that
he would like to see the introduction of a bottle deposit return scheme to encourage
consumers to recycle plastic.

He also wants to introduce a bike share initiative in the Midlands-North
West area in order to decrease the carbon footprint of the rural areas in
Ireland.

Hannigan maintains that 90 per cent of the young people he has spoken to
are not happy with the way things are with regards climate issues and have
offered suggestions which he says he “will listen to”.

Independent –
Fidelma Healy Eames

Healy Eames would like to see a “decent’’
public transport system in place for rural Ireland. When it comes to climate
issues, she is calling for a re-education instead of any form of “punishment”
to people.

She is against the introduction of a Carbon Tax and instead wants to see
Ireland putting funding towards solar and renewable energy.

She is also one of the few MEP candidates running without a poster campaign.

Cyril Brennan Photo: Niall Sargent

People Before Profit – Cyril Brennan

Brennan’s policies were outlined at the Environmental Pillar Hustings
earlier this month. The Ballyshannon man is calling for a ban on single-use
plastic and a move away from a carbon tax.

He would like to see a frequent flyer tax implemented for those who use
airplanes regularly as they have a huge emissions output.

His view is that Ireland needs to stop blaming the consumers and start
blaming the polluters when it comes to damaging the environment.

One of his final points was that he would like to see a reduction in the
number of cows in Ireland in the coming years so as to minimise Carbon output.

By Marianne Foody

The post MEP Election: Where do Midlands North-West candidates stand on climate? appeared first on Green News Ireland.