Sinn Féin spokesperson on Environment, Community & Local Government, Brian Stanley TD has warned that the Minster for Environment Phil Hogan’s recent u-turn on climate change will cost Ireland millions.

Speaking at a Stop Climate Chaos protest at the Dáil to mark the Minister Hogan's departure to the Durban environmental summit, Deputy Stanley said: "The Environmental Protection Agency figures show that there was a windfall profit in 2010 totalling €90m for Ireland's biggest polluters. This was from the sale of unused carbon credits which they got free from the government.

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"Yet the tax payers, having paid for these carbon credits, paid out a further €86 million to buy offset credits because our emissions still exceed our Kyoto targets. This is unacceptable and immoral.

"At a time when SNAs are being cut from schools and the HSE is closing hospitals, we will now continue to fork out millions for Hogan's u-turn. Even today, as Minister Hogan boards his plane for Durban, An Taniste Eamon Gilmore failed to give any date for the introduction of the climate change bill when I challenged him in the Dáil.

"The future of Kyoto will be decided at Durban, while here in Ireland there remains uncertainty about this government's commitment to reducing carbon emissions. It is vital to our international standing that we are left in no doubt that this government will introduce a climate change bill in early 2012."

(CD)