Michael O' Leary on Climate Change

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Gabriel

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I just wanted to see others reaction to O' Leary on the Last Word tonight...and on various news casts throughout the day.

I have to say I fully agree with what he was saying. Nothing to do with Ryanair...the man just talked sense. The political hacking going on surrounding climate change is taking away from the very serious debate that needs to happen.

I also had to agree with his points on public transport. The idea that our government is doing everything they can to get people onto public transport is just nonsense and the sooner people realise that the better. That's why people get into their cars more and more each year. The idea of a train to the airport is also a stupid one. Realistic and well thought out solutions are what this country (and the world) needs to combat emmissions....not silly soundbites from broken down politicians about everyone walking and cycling to work. Who dreams up these fiascos waiting to happen?

Lastly...he is also behind Nuclear energy...another subject after my own heart. Isn't it incredibly disheartening that our own government have seemingly passed a law banning the building of any reactor in Ireland?!! This can only be down to ignorance based on old nuclear energy as opposed to the fourth generation reactors now being built!! I suppose it will take us many, many years before we cop onto ourselves...no doubt we'll end up following the examples led by other European countries in the years to come.
 
Charlie Bird had a lot to say about Global Warming last evening on TV , but somehow it got lost in the whinging!

Why did RTE send their "chief news correspondent" down the Amazon? It beggars belief! (Well, maybe they didn't - but he was shown on RTE to be a complete wuss!)

Marion
 
Marion said:
Why did RTE send their "chief news correspondent" down the Amazon? It beggars belief! (Well, maybe they didn't - but he was shown on RTE to be a complete wuss!)

Marion
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Maybe they thought there was a good chance he mightn't make it back??
 
pat127 said:
Maybe they thought there was a good chance he mightn't make it back??
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It made for pathetic TV all right. He never stoped whinging. I wonder how much RTE spent on his trip and the film crew following him around etc
 
Arguably, due to their high load factors, Ryanair are [broken link removed].
 

I missed the program, but in fairness the metro will serve Swords, Ballymun etc, not just the airport. Long distance commuting (Arklow, Gorey, Dundalk and yes, Mullingar) is not particularly sustainable either.
 
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Why did RTE send their "chief news correspondent" down the Amazon? It beggars belief! [/quote]

probably like the iraq war coverage, he did it from his hotel bedroom a few hundred miles away....
 
he's no Michael Palin. thats for sure. apparantly the Amazon has changed direction, and if it had know he was coming probably would have changed back
 
MugsGame said:
Arguably, due to their high load factors, Ryanair are [broken link removed].
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Add in the fact that their fleet is one of the newest in Europe (certainly the youngest large commercial fleet anyways) and O'Leary is entirely justified to claim Ryanair is the greenest airline there is.

He also pointed out the foolishness of a green tax on flights. If you add €10 onto the price of a flight, it's highly unlikely to significantly reduce the number of flights taking place, aviation growth will continue for years to come as globalisation marches onwards. Such a tax would just become yet another element of the "taxes and charges" section that one sees upon confirming a flight booking.

It would be far better to incentives practical things like mass transit, discourage long distance commuting, and to promote investment in renewables and energy efficency.

I see above there was the comment that commuting from far away places like Mullingar (I realise this was just a jibe at O'Leary's taxi). True in the long run perhaps. But it's not going away for some time. Every morning hundreds of cars leave our town to eventually become entangled in traffic on the M50. However theres a train service from Mullingar to Dublin - I can hop on it and emerge at the IFSC in exactly 60min. So why dont many of those car drivers destined for the city center use the train? Because its ridiclously overcrowded and unreliable. 90% of the track is double track from Dublin to Mullingar. However the last 10% or so is single track which means trains frequently have to completely stop in the middle of no where and wait for maybe 10min for another train to pass in the opposite direction! If CIE where remotely well managed that section of track would be upgraded allowing more frequency and speed. I should be able to hop on the train in Mullingar, actually get a seat instead of being crammed in like a sardine, at 7am, 7:30am, 8am, 8:30am, 9am etc. and arrive in Dublin in 45min! But oh no... public transport does'nt work that way in Ireland... sorry if i'm ranting... but that bit of track is a pet hate of mine!
 

Was anything said about this in Transport 21? In any case, I think the government has to approve expenditure on this.
 
Gabriel said:
Lastly...he is also behind Nuclear energy...another subject after my own heart. Isn't it incredibly disheartening that our own government have seemingly passed a law banning the building of any reactor in Ireland?!!
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Have they? He is right though, it has to be seriously considered.
jd
 
jdwex said:
Was anything said about this in Transport 21? In any case, I think the government has to approve expenditure on this.
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T21 provides for a meagre increase in train frequency of every 2hrs at peak times on the Dublin - Sligo line... as far as i'm aware the single track problem was not addressed. It's CIE's responsibility to note problems like this and request relevent funding, so I blame CIE.

One might claim that there's no demand for increased frequency - but, having used the train twice a week at almost every available time (morning trains, afternoon trains and evening trains) I assure you virtually every single train is packed every day bar perhaps the one in the afternoon around 2ish.
 
We`re all flying more and aeroplanes use oil causing high up pollution.
Of course all the increase in driving cars etc is part of a good economy.
I like ryanair because of their cheap fares and routes.....i used to have to take the ferry to the u.k. as aer lingus fat cats charged outrageous fares.
Personally i think road traffic is the major problem to be solved.
All the single occupant cars and cars going to pick up kids in school and long commutes where drivers prefer to drive than take public transport.
Not to mention that people enjoy driving...mick o dwyer who will be taking a regular long commute until the first knckout match,at least ,admitted he enjoys driving as much as gaelic football and he likes his footy.....and of course they are lots like him.
A person goes the full distance to insulate their house to the highest stds .....fair enough but he/she is wasting loads of energy by unnecessary driving.
We`re just going to have to wait until fuel costs prove prohibitive before people will reduce their driving/flying.
Aviation fuel is tax free...because of international agreements so this is why the brit politico decided to score some brownie points against an successful irish airline.....it`s just hypocrisy...i bet he wouldn`t advise british tourists to stop flying to prevent climate change...not a vote catcher.
 
sunrock said:
We`re just going to have to wait until fuel costs prove prohibitive before people will reduce their driving/flying.
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I agree with most of what you said but I have to disgaree with this statement. O' Leary talked about this one too...no one is ever going to take a step backwards! We're never going to start flying less (only more). We might start to drive less...possibly...but only if really intelligent people started to put in place really great infrastrucure in this country to allow people to use a public transportation system. An underground system for instance. That would actually make sense. But it requires some serious forward thinking from a bunch of gombeens...so it's never going to happen.

Furthermore...this idea that we'll all start to do x, y and z as the oil reserves around the world run out just won't happen. It just won't. Mankind will have found alternatives before this happens...perhaps as prices begin to rise to such an extent that businesses are no longer viable at the current costs. There's far too much at stake. What's the alternative to NOT finding alternative fuels? The dark ages?
 
jdwex said:
I missed the program, but in fairness the metro will serve Swords, Ballymun etc, not just the airport. Long distance commuting (Arklow, Gorey, Dundalk and yes, Mullingar) is not particularly sustainable either.
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I'm not sure of the exact plan for the proposed trainline...but have heard it was to go from Stephen's Green to the airport...and perhaps beyond? I'm not that sure of it to be honest...but I think the driving force behind it was public transportation to the airport! So at what cost would this be somewhat useful to Swords, Ballymun etc? Is it worth the billions it will cost?

Wouldn't we be far better off sitting down with some really clever people and designing vast underground tracts that might end up costing us 100 billion over 20 years or so? Maybe more? Wouldn't this be a really clever way of dealing with the ever growing needs of Greater Dublin? Imagine if you can an underground system that allowed you travel from Swords to anywhere in greater Dublin...in 20 minutes or less. Wow...wouldn't that be phenomenal? Is it conceivable? Yes it is. Is it possible? Yes it is. Is it ever going to happen?

Instead let's chuck a billion down the drain for the LUAS! A tram system that has two lines that don't even meet up! Wonderful!
 
Gabriel said:
. What's the alternative to NOT finding alternative fuels? The dark ages?
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Hi Gabriel. What makes you so sure that we will find alternatives? Just because we 'have to' doesn't mean we will. Even if alternatives are found, how much will it cost us to change and have we enough time? Who will pay to develop the alternatives and will they share them with everyone else? What about countries which are too poor to pay? If we can't alleviate their famine problems as is, then we sure as hell won't be giving them alternative fuels. As fossil fuels become scarce what's to prevent nations going to war over them?
 

You're right...nothing. You're talking about armeggedon. I choose to believe in an alternative...based on the current scientific endevours going into hydrogen fuel cell technology....GM are working with other companies on this technology.

Then there's also the fact that in very recent years it's suddenly become 'okay' to talk about environmental problems without being considered a nut. Mind you there's still lots of nuts out there. Governments around the world are starting to wake up and recognise that we need to find alternatives. It's even started to filter into mainstream media.

It's sink or swim for the world as we know it...I choose to believe we'll swim...eventually.
 
Hydrogen is simply a method for storing power - a battery. There has to be a method of creating that hydrogen in the first place. Any ideas about how that could be done?
 
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