Leo Varadkar and Richard Bruton at the launch of the government’s first progress report on its climate action plan on Thursday

Leo Varadkar’s comments regarding supposed benefits of climate change have been criticised by activists as “totally irresponsible”.

Speaking on Thursday at the launch of the government’s first progress report on its climate action plan, Mr Varadkar said that climate change could have some positive effects.

He said: “One thing we definitely face as a result of climate change is a warmer winter. We’re already experiencing warmer winders and that actually means using less energy because it’s warmer and people need less heating and it also means fewer deaths as a result of cold weather.

“It’s interesting that when you do look at those things there is a ledger, and there are benefits and there are downsides. The downsides outweigh the benefits but we need to