A grandfather, a young activist and a young child sue the Irish Government for violating their rights through climate inaction

A grandfather, a young activist and a young boy are challenging the Irish Government’s inaction in court. climate crisis.

In an intergenerational lawsuit filed last week, the Irish community legal center Community Law and Mediation and three private plaintiffs claim the Dublin Government is breaching the law by not reducing national emissions quickly enough. They want the court to declare that the Irish Government has failed to comply with climate legislation and that its actions violate rights protected in the Irish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

This is one of the country’s first national cases.historical sentence The European Court of Human Rights ruling earlier this year found that the Government’s inaction on climate change violated fundamental human rights.

Act on behalf of vulnerable and excluded communities

Community Law and Mediation Executive Director Rose Wall said the case was filed on behalf of Mediation. communities Who will be more affected by climate change, but have fewer opportunities to protect their rights?

“We know that climate change poses a serious threat to the world” human rights– is well documented – and its effects will be felt most by vulnerable and marginalized groups,” says Wall. “Community Law and Mediation aims to serve as a collective recourse for these communities and future generations.”

The Climate Plan does not guarantee the achievement of set targets

Group, Climate Action Plan 2024 Ireland is not strong enough to comply with national climate legislation and carbon budgets.

Latest figures Irish Environmental Protection Agency It shows that national greenhouse gas emissions are at their lowest level in three decades but remain well below national and EU climate targets for 2030.

The group also argues that: plan violates fundamental rights of three individual plaintiffsIncluding the rights to life, dignity, health, equality and property, as well as the rights of the child.

The situation still exists and remains urgent

Wise O’ConnorThe 21-year-old thanked Community Law and Mediation for inviting him to join the case. “I’ve been working on climate action since I was 16, mostly in Ireland and banging my head against the wall,” he explains.

inspirationalGreta ThunbergO’Connor went on strike Fridays for Future I have been standing outside Cork City Hall every week for over a year in 2018. Since then, they have spent a lot of time as activists in international climate negotiations and spoke on behalf of young people at last year’s COP28 talks in Dubai.

“The situation still exists and remains urgent,” they explain. “We were at the forefront of public awareness in 2019, but we are not anymore. I am literally open to anything to achieve something. “And that’s something we haven’t tried before.”

There is no success without trials

The other two individual plaintiffs retired psychotherapistclimate activist and grandfather Philip Kearney you A 20-month-old boy represented by his mother and cannot be named. This is the first climate case IrelandThis case dealing with fundamental rights is not the only case the Irish Government is currently involved in.

In July 2020, the Supreme Court of Ireland made a landmark decision: planes Ireland’s emissions reduction plans remain It was “far below” what was needed to meet climate commitments and needed to be replaced by a more ambitious strategy. However, although this decision led to a review of Ireland’s climate law, campaigners were not satisfied and introduced the law last year. a second request He is also represented by Community Law and Mediation.

The Irish Government has stated that it is inappropriate to comment on a matter currently before the court.

Are climate issues better addressed in national or European courts?

Ireland also took a strong stance in its responses to the first climate cases filed in the European Court of Human Rights last year.

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He was adamant that the issues raised in the case during public hearings in Strasbourg were as follows:filed by a group of old women against SwitzerlandIt was the responsibility of national political and judicial authorities. He warned the court not to exceed its powers.

Ireland has also provided a detailed annex. Joint statement of the state enotro climate case presented by a group young portuguese. Lawyers who filed the lawsuit, which claims the risks of climate change are “insignificant compared to the environmental dangers of a modern city,” described it as “bordering on climate denial.”

“We were very good at talking the talk,” says Wall, citing the Irish Parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 as an example. We are the second worst country per capita in Europe in terms of emissions. “Our actual record is pretty poor and we’re not moving in the right direction.”

In his view, the Court’s decision that the Government did not do enough and violated the human rights of its citizens would be a truly powerful step “not just for them, but for all future climate policies.”

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