Ireland will have to pay tens of millions of euros in fines each year and drastically reduce its carbon gas emissions by 2012 to fulfil its Kyoto treaty obligations, the Irish Times said Tuesday.
Environment Minister Dick Roche told the daily newspaper the Irish Republic would have to reduce its emissions from seven million tonnes a year between 2008 and 2012 — or 10 percent of its total output — not to default its pledges in the 1997 UN treaty.
The government released figures this week showing it has already cut emissions of greenhouse gas thought to contribute to global warming by eight million tonnes and was on track to meet treaty targets.
But The Irish Times said: "This reduction is largely accounted for by the increase use of natural gas, the closure of Irish Fertilisers, and Irish Steel, and reductions forced by the EU un the size of the national cattle herd."
The boom in Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy in the last decade, the increase in car usage and decline in public transport compared with population surges are being blamed for hampering Dublin's environmental efforts.
