An important step.
Ireland has officially become the second country in the world to declare a climate emergency.
The news came after an amendment to Oireachtas report on Climate Action was accepted in government by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
There was no actual vote held.
The amendment to the report was put forward by Fianna Fáil.
The Chair of the Climate Action Committee, Hildegarde Naughton, called the outcome as "an important statement" but of course added that now we need "action".
Hildegarde said that the Minister for Climate Action, Richard Bruton, will be putting forward new proposals as soon as possible.
The leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, also welcomed the news of a declaration, but warned that:
"We have declared a climate emergency in our own Irish way."
"Declaring an emergency means absolutely nothing unless there is action to back it up. That means the Government having to do things they don't want to do".
A valid point, indeed.
Reacting, Oisin Coghlan, Coordinator of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, said:
"This is a radical mandate for climate action from the Dáil. It really puts it up to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, whose climate action hasn't matched his virtue signalling. Minister Bruton has promised a new all-of-government climate action plan will be published within weeks."
"To respect this declaration of a Climate Emergency the Government's first response must be to commit to the immediate implementation of the Dáil's blueprint for action, in full and on time, as part of their own new plan."
16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who set the ball in motion for a lot of what has been happening, also welcomed Ireland declaring a climate emergency.
She tweeted: "Great news from Ireland!! Who is next?"
"And remember: #ClimateEmergency means leaving fossil fuels in the ground."
Great step for Ireland.
