Commenting on the latest UN climate change report, Dublin Labour MEP, Emer Costello, has called on the Government to publish the long-awaited climate change legislation before the Easter recess.

Ms Costello said that this legislation has been driven by Labour in government and would ensure that Ireland is one of the first EU Member States to have a legal obligation to develop policies to plan for existing, and future, climate commitments. Ms Costello said that both as former Lord Mayor and in the European Parliament she had supported innovative energy efficiency and sustainability policies, and would continue to do so on behalf of the people of Dublin.

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"The latest report from the UN's expert panel on climate change has indicated that global greenhouse gas emissions have now risen to unprecedented levels and threaten a global crisis if action is not taken.

"The head of Climate Justice, former President Mary Robinson, has rightly called this latest UN report a 'final wake-up' call.

"Communities in Dublin and around Ireland have already been hit by a number of devastating extreme weather events. And the impact of global warming on Irish weather trends over the next forty years may include an increase in winter rainfall, more river and coastal flooding and more extreme weather events in general."

(CD/MH)