Ireland's climate change records have been described as "horrendous" by Sinn Fein.

Ireland ranked the worst performing European country in relation to climate change.

The analysis was carried out by Germanwatch and the NewClimate Institute.

The party's spokesperson on Climate Action Brian Stanley TD called on the government to take climate change "seriously".

Mr Stanley said: "The report glaringly shows the inaction of this government and previous governments on climate change.

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"To address both increasing emissions and increasing our renewable energy sources, we need specific measures in place, such as binding sectoral targets as proposed by Sinn Féin for emissions. We need also to urgently diversify our renewable energy sources.

"This State has virtually completely neglected offshore wind and biogas potential, alongside solar and biomass. For offshore wind and biogas, we have some of the best resources in Europe and yet they are virtually completely underutilised.

"There has been a complete lack of imagination and it seems at this point a lack of interest from government parties to act. We are not only protecting our environment when we address climate change, we are also avoiding substantial fines from the EU for missing our 2020 targets.

"If the threat of environmental damage and financial penalties is not enough for this government to act, I don't know what is."

(CD/MH)