Leo Varadkar would have to become a vegetarian for 3.6 years to offset the carbon emission costs of his business class flight to Washington for St Patrick’s Day this week.
The long standing argument is that politicians need to have business class seats in order to do work without having anyone being able to see sensitive government material. A spokeswoman for Wizer Energy said: “For a government that has been pushing green policies, and as Ireland tries to move to a more climate friendly environment, the carbon cost of St. Patrick's Day must be examined.
The Government’s handbook for ministers advises that economy class travel should be used where possible, unless there is a justifiable reason not to. The data was compiled by Wizer Energy using calculator.carbonffotprint.com, based on direct flights to the countries/cities main airport with no layovers, from Dublin to the first country/city listed and return to Dublin from the last country/city listed.