Irish Friends of the Earth activists built snowmen in the grounds of the Department of the
Environment to demand that the leader of the Irish Green Party, John Gormley, deliver the climate bill.
The snowmen held placards that read, ‘No Climate Bill, sNOw thanks’ and, ‘Hey John, Where’s Your Climate Bill?’.
The demand from the snowmen and Friends of the Earth Ireland was for the Green Party to keep its promise and publish the climate bill before Christmas.
“They still have a chance to end a year of delay on a successful note. All that these snowmen want for Christmas is a Climate Bill,” said Molly Walsh, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth Ireland.
The Cabinet finally agreed on a climate bill two weeks ago, almost a year after the government agreed and published a framework document for climate legislation. A draft bill had been promised for the first quarter of 2010. In a speech to the parliament in 2009 Minister Gormley said the climate change bill was, “sending out a message to people here and beyond our shores of our intent, our determination, our sense of purpose in tackling climate change”. One year on, Gormley still has nothing to show for his determination.
