Sir, – Your editorial quotes a recent poll showing that, "77 per cent of potential EU voters identify global warming as an important factor in deciding who to vote for", and states that, "anecdotally, the issue is coming up on Irish doorsteps like never before" ("The Irish Times view on tackling climate change: Pull the emergency cord", May 6th).
Opinion polls and anecdotal evidence are no substitute for actual election results, and the local elections in England and Northern Ireland last week suggest something quite contrary to this perceived wisdom.
In England, the Green Party contested 2,600 of the 8,300 seats which were up for grabs. While it increased its seat tally considerably to 265 overall, this represents just 10 per cent of the seats it contested and 3 per cent of the total number of seats.
Likewise in Northern Ireland, the Green Party got just 2 per cent of the vote, an increase of 1 per cent from the last election in 2014.
These results suggest that while climate change will continue be an all-consuming obsession of the media, it remains very low on the list of voters’ priorities when they go to the ballot box. – Yours, etc,
THOMAS RYAN BL,
Dublin 6W.