I read with incredulity today the comments of former President Mary Robinson in the national media when she proposes that people should eat less meat or no meat at all, and that people should become vegetarian or vegan to reduce their carbon footprint. It’s one of the most bizarre statements that I have heard anyone of influence make in a long time. I am especially surprised that it is coming from a woman who comes from a county (Mayo) that is so reliant on agriculture. I wonder what plans would Mrs Robinson have for the tens of thousands of farmers that would be put out of business, or the tens of thousands of people who would become unemployed as a result of losing their jobs in the meat and food industries.
It is also ironic that these comments are coming from Mrs Robinson who has spent most of her life flying around the world putting up millions of air miles, not to mention having been driven around in gas guzzling limousines for the past number of decades What about her own carbon footprint? Her comments smacks of a time long ago when the British aristocrats lived in big houses in this country with huge wealth and the poor peasants starved outside the gates. We certainly do not want to go back to that situation.
Let us have a debate about climate change but let us do it in a realistic way. This intervention of Mary Robinson is not a help in that debate in any way.