Denis Naughten, the Minister for Climate Action and Environment, has admitted that the government is not doing well in its plan to reduce carbon emissions - and that they are, in fact, rising.
What is really causing climate change, and how do we tackle it?
Environmental journalist and commentator John Gibbons says, "We elect governments to lead us, and we've had a complete vacuum of political leadership in relation to climate action."
"We want to encourage social goods and tax social bads. For example, diesel emissions are putting thousands of people into Irish hospitals every year. We've got to tax things that are doing active harm."
James McCarthy, CEO of Nissan Ireland, is worried that we are making our diesel position worse: "There will be about 105,000 used cars coming into Ireland this year, and close to 80% of them are diesels."
"While we're making some progress with regard to the adoption of electromobility, we're flooding our market with used diesel cars that are being dumped from the UK market, and if we want to make serious progression with regard to reducing our CO2 emissions, we have to put a stop on those cars coming in."
Dr. Cara Augustenborg, lecturer in climate change at UCD and chair of Friends of the Earth Europe, says it's not enough for individuals to simply change their habits.
"Nearly 75% of the energy we import comes from imported fossil fuels, so even if I make my house more efficient and buy my electric car, at the end of the day it's still largely being powered by fossil fuels."
"We need these big system-wide changes and these commitments from government."
To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen
