Ireland 'still addicted to fossil fuels', says UCC expert

Ireland and Latvia, which increased 7.5%, were by far the biggest outliers in the EU, according to the Eurostat figures.

However, Eurostat said: "By far the main driver for the Irish greenhouse gas emission increase between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 is the Irish air transport industry. Their emissions are back to pre-pandemic level as of the first quarter of 2019."

Government officials have argued that including such figures gives an incorrect picture, as Ryanair flights from countries like Poland or Slovakia to other European countries are counted as Irish emissions as the airline is Irish.

Maynooth University professor of geography (climate change) Peter Thorne said the Eurostat figures should be taken with a "pretty hefty grain of salt".

"It is pretty hard to take those Eurostat emissions estimates terribly seriously as they are based upon reported economic activity — more specifically GDP — which we all know for Ireland is a wildly misleading statistic at the best of times, given the level of bookkeeping that passes through multinationals here. 

I would thus treat the Eurostat estimates with a pretty hefty grain of salt and wait for the more considered Environment Protection Agency  numbers," he said.

University College Cork professor of energy engineering Brian Ó Gallachóir said while emissions are indeed likely to be lower in reality, they are still worrying.

It is disturbing and hugely disappointing to see Ireland ranked first place in terms of greenhouse gas emissions growth in the EU during the first quarter of 2023 relative to the same period in 2022. 

"It is important to note that these numbers are derived from economic activity data rather than measured emissions data. This means the estimated 9% increase in emissions for Ireland is likely to be higher than the measured data will show.

"However, published monthly energy data for the January to March 2023 does confirm that petrol, diesel and electricity use in Ireland have all increased relative to the same period in 2022."

Ireland is "still addicted to fossil fuels" and remains off track in meeting carbon budget targets, he said.

"The current pace of economic, energy and emissions growth in Ireland means that our necessary and beneficial increases in renewable energy and energy efficiency are insufficient to meet our statutory targets for emissions reductions."

Ireland's carbon budgets, which allocate emissions ceilings to motorists, households, farmers, businesses, and industry in five-year cycles, aim to reduce emissions by 4.8% a year from 2021 to 2025 under the first block, while the 2026-2030 budget will increase that annual reduction target to 8.3%.

The EPA warned in June that Ireland is on course to cut emissions by just 29% by 2030, as compared to the target of 51%.