Green Party leader defends Leo Varadkar’s airplane dash to Miami to open new consulate

The Taoiseach’s flight to Florida and return to New York will cost 16,439 metric tonnes of carbon while Mr Ryan continues with a series of high-level UN meetings on climate change after taking the train from Manhattan to Washington DC.

Mr Varadkar, for his part, has claimed he would have had to make a dedicated trip from Ireland to open the office in the Sunshine State if he had not availed of the opportunity during his week at the United Nations.

Asked if the Taoiseach was undermining his climate argument by going down to cut a ribbon in Miami, Mr Ryan said he wasn’t going to get involved in a blame game against any individual. “Transport is actually going to be more difficult than land use and agriculture (for emissions cuts) because it’s embedded in our whole society,” he said.

“We need to change the way aviation works and we need to develop new aviation fuels so that flying is sustainable. It’s not at the present time.

“But I don’t think we will make that change if we turn it into a kind of “you’re the problem,” he said.

Standing outside the United Nations building, he added; “We all flew here, myself included. Hands up who didn’t? I don’t think we should turn this into a kind of a moral quiz, in terms of who’s the most virtuous.”

He said he and his team had taken the train up to New York from Washington “because it was no problem, and we could work on the train in a very productive way. It brought me right into Penn Station.”

He continued: “What the Taoiseach is doing is important, not just in terms of representation to that part of the world. But critically, we’re setting up our mission to the Caribbean and small island developing states.

“It’s the likes of Barbados and Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago, with whom we have a really important relationship. No one can deny the fact that we got elected to the UN Security Council by those islands in the Caribbean and in the Pacific, other small islands who saw us as a voice that can represent them.

“So I think establishing the office in Miami and the Taoiseach doing so, that’s absolutely appropriate. Absolutely that is the right thing to do.

“He’s going to have to fly there because he has to be back here on Friday morning to give our national statement to the General Assembly. You can’t do that if you take the Amtrak all the way down and back.”

Mr Varadkar flies from La Guardia to Miami tomorrow.

Asked about it, Mr Varadkar said: “I think it’s important that I as Taoiseach, should open up the new office, our consulate in Miami.

“The State of Florida is one of the most important States now in the union, a huge economic powerhouse, and also it’s our new office to the Caribbean. It’s actually something that I set out as part of our Global Ireland ambition back in 2017.

“So I was keen to do it, I have a number of other engagements as well. The fact that the Head of Government is there makes a big difference in terms of the meetings that you get and the access we can secure for our staff there.

“Obviously, the alternative way to have done it is to make a dedicated trip from Ireland which would have cost more and more co2 emissions.”

The carbon cost of the flight has been assessed through the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s online calculator.

The Taoiseach’s flight to Florida and return to New York will cost 16,439 metric tonnes of carbon while Mr Ryan continues with a series of high-level UN meetings on climate change after taking the train from Manhattan to Washington DC.

Mr Varadkar, for his part, has claimed he would have had to make a dedicated trip from Ireland to open the office in the Sunshine State if he had not availed of the opportunity during his week at the United Nations.

Asked if the Taoiseach was undermining his climate argument by going down to cut a ribbon in Miami, Mr Ryan said he wasn’t going to get involved in a blame game against any individual. “Transport is actually going to be more difficult than land use and agriculture (for emissions cuts) because it’s embedded in our whole society,” he said.

“We need to change the way aviation works and we need to develop new aviation fuels so that flying is sustainable. It’s not at the present time.

“But I don’t think we will make that change if we turn it into a kind of “you’re the problem,” he said.

Standing outside the United Nations building, he added; “We all flew here, myself included. Hands up who didn’t? I don’t think we should turn this into a kind of a moral quiz, in terms of who’s the most virtuous.”

He said he and his team had taken the train up to New York from Washington “because it was no problem, and we could work on the train in a very productive way. It brought me right into Penn Station.”

He continued: “What the Taoiseach is doing is important, not just in terms of representation to that part of the world. But critically, we’re setting up our mission to the Caribbean and small island developing states.

“It’s the likes of Barbados and Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago, with whom we have a really important relationship. No one can deny the fact that we got elected to the UN Security Council by those islands in the Caribbean and in the Pacific, other small islands who saw us as a voice that can represent them.

“So I think establishing the office in Miami and the Taoiseach doing so, that’s absolutely appropriate. Absolutely that is the right thing to do.

“He’s going to have to fly there because he has to be back here on Friday morning to give our national statement to the General Assembly. You can’t do that if you take the Amtrak all the way down and back.”

Mr Varadkar flies from La Guardia to Miami tomorrow.

Asked about it, Mr Varadkar said: “I think it’s important that I as Taoiseach, should open up the new office, our consulate in Miami.

“The State of Florida is one of the most important States now in the union, a huge economic powerhouse, and also it’s our new office to the Caribbean. It’s actually something that I set out as part of our Global Ireland ambition back in 2017.

“So I was keen to do it, I have a number of other engagements as well. The fact that the Head of Government is there makes a big difference in terms of the meetings that you get and the access we can secure for our staff there.

“Obviously, the alternative way to have done it is to make a dedicated trip from Ireland which would have cost more and more co2 emissions.”

The carbon cost of the flight has been assessed through the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s online calculator.