Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has hit out at the Irish government over its "lazy approach" to climate action.

This comes after a recent increase in carbon taxes and follows a climate strike from students across Ireland last week.

Calling for a "real and radical climate investment plan", Ms McDonald said: "Climate response policies must be just and fair. Most importantly, they must also work.

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"Carbon taxes, without viable alternatives, do not work. Increasing the Carbon Tax passes the buck onto hard-pressed low and middle income families who are already fighting to make ends meet while corporate elites are given a pass.

"The government cannot take the lazy approach to climate justice. The young people who protested last Friday want genuine climate investment and action. A Carbon Tax increase will not deliver on that demand.

"The alternative lies in funding climate action through progressive taxation. It lies in delivering a world-class public transport system, investing in renewable energy infrastructure and in the retro-fitting of our housing stock. These are the type of measures that must be undertaken. Anything less is tinkering around the edges."

(CM/MH)