OECD Publishes New Report On Ireland

Angel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD, launched the 'Conclusions and Recommendations of the OECD's second Environmental Performance Review of Ireland' last Wednesday.

The launch took place in Trinity College, Dublin at a function attended by representatives of the OECD Environment Directorate and by representatives of social partners, environment NGOs and public authorities.

This report is the culmination of a systematic and independent assessment by the OECD, extending over a year and a half, of how Ireland is doing in respect of domestic environment policy objectives and associated international commitments.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Gurría noted that "Many of the efforts to strengthen environmental policies and institutions have accelerated in the last few years" and went on to commend Minister Gormley for his leadership in this regard.

He welcomed Ireland's initiatives to move towards a green economy, such as the Renewed Programme for Government, the Commission on Taxation report and the publication of 'Building Ireland's Smart Economy'.

The Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley T.D., also spoke at the launch. He welcomed the overall findings that Ireland has made good progress on environmental issues since 2000.

The Minister said that he viewed the report "as an invaluable record of developments in environment policy since the initial review almost a decade ago".

Turning to some of the detail in the report, Minister Gormley declared himself pleased to note that the report endorses Ireland's generally good environmental quality.  In particular the Minister highlighted improvements in waste management, increased investment in environmentally related infrastructure and progress in decoupling energy intensity from economic growth in recent years, meaning Ireland has the lowest energy intensity of the OECD member countries.

The Minister acknowledged the OECD's assessment that Ireland's environment is now under significant pressure and noted that the OECD has highlighted in particular the need to further integrate environmental concerns into economic decisions and to continue to strengthen our environmental management efforts across air, water, waste and nature management.

Referring to a strong national commitment to ensuring that economic renewal is based on the principles of sustainable development, the Minister called for a response from everyone to ensure that safeguarding the environment is a priority, stating that "A clean and healthy environment is the basis for a strong economy into the future"