An astounding 6,671 private jets flights left Irish airports last year adding huge amounts carbon to atmosphere, new research suggests.
The report found that figure has almost doubled from 2021, when the wealthy took 2,578 private planes and during Covid-hit 2020 that figure was 858.
Greenpeace, which commissioned the report, say "it's hugely unfair that rich people can wreck the climate in this way".
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The international charity is calling for an EU ban on private jets and on short-haul flights where a reasonable train connection already exists.
On average, they say private jet flights from Ireland emitted 10.2 tonnes of CO2 per flight - the same as a petrol car driving the 40,000 km required to circumnavigate the globe.
In all three years analysed, they found the route between Dublin and London was the most frequently used for private aviation, despite over 40 commercial flights operating each way per day.
The busiest airports for private jet flights in Ireland in 2022 were Dublin and Shannon, which together responsible for 82% of all Irish private jet flights analysed by the report. Dublin racked up the most private jet departures in 2022, with 3,445.
The shortest route for private aviation with 10 or more flights per year was between Shannon and Kerry airport for all three years.
Greenpeace EU transport campaigner Thomas Gelin said: "Vulnerable people are on the front lines of climate destruction, and are the ones pushed into poverty by spiking fuel prices, but have done the least to cause these crises.
"It’s hugely unfair that rich people can wreck the climate this way, in just one flight polluting more than driving a car 23,000 kilometres. Pollution for wasteful luxury has to be the first to go, we need a ban on private jets."
Responding to the Greenpeace Report, Senator Boylan who has renewed Sinn Féin's calls for the introduction of a private jet tax, said: "Sinn Féin’s Alternative Budget called for the introduction of a €3,000 private jet tax but when I raised it in the Seanad, it was dismissed by the Government claiming a lack of data. Well, now we have the data and it is worse than we had estimated.
"The carbon emissions of private jets in Ireland have soared to 67,903 tonnes, with one average flight emitting roughly the same emissions as a petrol car driving 40,000km.
"The Irish government need to take the lead on this issue. Climate justice advocates have long argued that not all carbon emissions are created equal. To date, the government's approach has been about punishing ordinary people while the wealthy are exempt to continue living their carbon-intensive lifestyles.
"Ideally, I would like to see an end to non-essential private jets but as a bare minimum, a levy on private jets would at least demonstrate that the government are in fact committed to a real, just transition."
The countries with the most private jet flights in Europe in 2022 were France, the UK and Germany.
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