FORMER VP and current green globetrotter Al Gore spoke in Ireland last Saturday about global warming and the environment, and told the audience at a conference in Dublin that the Irish need to step up to the plate.

"Ireland, with its successful business model and unique political positioning, has a key role to play among developed nations in driving the environmental agenda," Gore said at the Royal College of Surgeons to 400 business leaders and other VIPs, including Bono, whom he had a private audience with before the event got underway.

Nobel Laureate Gore's speech was titled "Thinking Green: Economic Strategy for the 21st Century." Now that Ireland is one of the world's more prosperous nations, it has "increased moral and political responsibilities to take a leadership role in tackling climate change," Gore said.

Gore green agenda wasn't the only issue on the cards at the Dublin event he attended. You'll notice in the photo of Bono with this piece a banner which says "I Love Tara," a reference to the historic Hill of Tara site in Co. Meath which is currently - and very controversially - being bulldozed to make way for a new highway.

Tara campaigners, seeking some high-profile support for their cause, approached both Bono and Gore with letters urging them to speak out on the matter. The Tara cause has attracted a number of Irish stars, including Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Stuart Townsend.