Sceptical councillors not won over by climate change expert

One of Ireland's leading climate change experts who gave a talk to the members of Westmeath County Council at the January meeting held on Monday quickly discovered that a number of representatives did not share his views. Sustainable development consultant and environmental activist Gavin Harte was asked by Westmeath County Council to get local councillors up to speed on the major environmental issues facing Westmeath and the rest of Ireland. Mr Harte stressed that people need to make a differentiation between climate, which is long term, and weather. “Climate tells you what clothes to buy for each season, weather tells you when to wear them.†He added that although Ireland experienced one of the coldest winters since records began last year, on a global level it was the hottest in over a century. Fine Gael's Colm Arthur said that he was grateful that the Green Party didn't get the Climate Change Bill through and that whenever the issue was discussed it was always rural Ireland that faced the biggest changes. He also wondered why the emphasis was on cattle numbers and that this seemed like an “easy target†for environmentalists. Fianna Fáil councillor Robert Troy said that Westmeath County Council should seek an extension to the derogation on turf cutting. He added that he viewed any campaign to ban turf cutting as “an attack on rural Ireland.†Staying on turf cutting, Councillor Frankie Keena said that on Sunday last he attended a meeting in the Hodson Bay Hotel which had been organised by the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association and was attended by over 3000 people from across Ireland. He said that it was a “very emotive†issue for the people of rural Ireland and that while he agreed there were a number of areas such as biomass that needed to be explored, he said “agriculture should not be touched.â€