Environmental Bertie

Bertie's conversion to environmentalism and green politics as shown in his address to the Ógra Fianna Fáil ard fhéis at the weekend is to be warmly welcomed. He's obviously been hearing a lot about the dangers posed by global warming from many concerned people. Bertie instructed Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus to immediately have a 5 per cent bio-diesel mix in all their vehicles, and that all new vehicles purchased by Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus must have a 30 per cent diesel mix. The same applies to all state vehicles. Hopefully this will include An Post and the ESB who also have a large fleet of vehicles.

He also announced that a big energy efficiency drive is to be launched in the state sector. This means basic common-sense things such as lowering the thermostat on the heating by 2 degrees, switching off all lights and turning off all photocopiers and printers when people are finished in the office for the day. It never ceases to amaze me how many lights you see burning in offices late at night when there's no one in them.

Apart from the civil service and the various semi-states such as An Post and the ESB, this also includes many private sector firms. Just think of the amount of energy wasted. Plus your electricity bills are needlessly high.

Obviously Bertie has now realised that we need to act urgently if we are to avoid a global catastrophe of an unimaginable scale. If global warming continues at its present rate all of the Antarctic and Artic icecaps will melt raising sea levels by several metres. The result will be serious flooding of low-lying areas in Ireland. Much of Dublin will be submerged and many famous buildings including Liberty Hall and the GPO will be under water. Hopefully, this is not just electioneering on Bertie's part hoping to get the increasing green vote, and that he is serious about the threat posed by global warming.

Paul Kinsella, Santry, Dublin 9