The Green Party today welcomed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union and called on the Irish Government to put climate change at the heart of our Presidency agenda.

Green Party Environment Spokesperson, Cllr Malcolm Noonan, said: "Ireland is respected internationally on human rights and development issues and in recent years we have shown some real leadership in the development of new clean energy technologies. We should take this chance to lead Europe towards being a low carbon economy and force the hand of the US and China in meeting their moral obligation to decarbonise their own industries.

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"While the Doha Climate talks were disappointing, we would not have expected any radical breakthrough given past history of the talks. The Party supports the limited recognition that was given to the plight of developing countries and the pledge of funding towards 'loss and damage' incurred due to extreme weather and rising sea levels. The Union needs to live up to the peace prize that was awarded today and now show some real leadership on the climate issue."

(CD/GK)