THE GREEN PARTY has expressed “profound alarm and fury” as the State is on track to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by just half of what was promised.

The government had committed to reducing the emissions by 51% between 2018 and 2030.

Minister for the Environment Darragh O’Brien has admitted this target will be missed by the “somewhat significant amount” of around 15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. It could result in Ireland being fined up to €28 billion by the EU.

The Green Party says it’s tantamount to the minister waving a “white flag on our future”.

The party’s climate spokesperson Ossian Smyth said: “We are facing a ‘climate fine’ that will bankrupt our ability to invest in future generations. The minister is choosing to pay billions in fines to Europe rather than investing those same billions in Irish commuters.”

The projected €28 billion fine, Smyth says, “could have fully funded the entire MetroLink, DART+ expansion, and a national light-rail network twice over.

“To admit we are failing and then offer no plan to get back on track is a dereliction of duty,” he said.

Green Party Leader, Roderic O’Gorman said the country is suffering because of delays to major public transport projects such as the DART+ South-West (now pushed to the 2030s) and Luas Finglas (pushed to 2029).

In addition, plans to reopen a rail line from Wexford to Waterford have seemingly been scrapped after the details didn’t appear in a new government funding plan.

Luas Finglas got the green light from An Coimisiún Pleanála, the planning regulator, in October. When the government signed off on the project in 2024, it suggested it could be operational by 2031. However, the project has faced judicial reviews, which are postponing its commencement.

Meanwhile, the planned Dart+ South West expansion from Dublin city centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge in Co Kildare will start construction four years later than previously planned.

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has also accused the government of throwing in the towel on climate action in light of the targets likely being missed.

“It is incredibly disheartening, but hardly surprising, to hear the minister concede defeat on Ireland’s climate action ambitions,” she said.

“The billions in fines we face is money that could have been used to save us from disaster. It should have been invested in renewable energy, large-scale retrofitting schemes and key public transport infrastructure.”

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the climate crisis isn’t being treated like the “existential threat” that it is.