{"id":182706,"date":"2025-11-15T22:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T22:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/182706\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T22:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T22:07:14","slug":"hundreds-take-part-in-dublin-march-calling-for-climate-action-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/182706\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds take part in Dublin march calling for climate action \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly before 2pm on Saturday, an irate taxi driver left his cab and wheeled two suitcases over to a garda standing at the top of Burgh Quay in Dublin<\/a> city, where traffic had been stopped to facilitate a large protest.<\/p>\n

Placing the two suitcases in front of the garda, which were followed quickly by his passenger, the driver said: \u201cEvery week they\u2019re allowed to do it, what is this one about, even?\u201d<\/p>\n

After being told the march concerned climate change<\/a>, he simply replied that it was \u201cbulls**t\u201d before returning to his cab, behind which rows of other taxis and buses were stranded.<\/p>\n

His passenger, now wheeling his suitcases, crossed towards Aston Quay on foot, after finding an opening through the crowds who chanted: \u201cClimate justice now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe march was organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and endorsed by more than 60 organisations and groups. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni <\/p>\n

Hundreds taking part gathered at the Garden of Remembrance before marching through O\u2019Connell Street towards Molesworth Street, carrying placards which read: \u201cClimate change is not cool\u201d, \u201cCop on, don\u2019t Cop out\u201d, and \u201cDon\u2019t let our puffins go puff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The march, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and endorsed by more than 60 organisations and groups, including Friends of the Earth, Tr\u00f3caire<\/a> and Oxfam<\/a>, called for a transition to renewable energy<\/a> that \u201cputs people first\u201d over \u201cfossil fuel greed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old system, where fossil-fuel companies profit while families struggle to pay their bills, cannot continue,\u201d said Sin\u00e9ad Roche, campaigns co-ordinator of Oxfam Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"Photograph:Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

It was part of a global day of action as talks continue at Cop30 in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil, with Green Party<\/a> leader Roderic O\u2019Gorman<\/a> saying it was a reminder to the Irish Government that a \u201cbig body\u201d of people in Ireland want to see climate action.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Thousands hit streets of Bel\u00e9m to call for action during crucial Cop30 summitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Among those participating was Sofia Santos, an 18-year-old from Co Cork who travelled to support the cause, saying it was \u201cimportant to get involved\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many concerns,\u201d she said, adding that people her age are feeling \u201canxious and afraid\u201d about their futures due to climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are kind of hopeless as well. They know everything is going wrong, but a lot of people don\u2019t do much about it because they feel like they\u2019re not being represented, they don\u2019t feel that their vote counts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"VarvaraVarvara Vasylchenko, one of hundreds of people on the Dublin march. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni <\/p>\n

Friends Mehret Flynn and Eoin Reinhardt, both aged 16, travelled from Blessington, Co Wicklow, because climate change is a \u201chuge existential issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see the changes in my community, all of the storms are insane,\u201d Ms Flynn said, adding: \u201cThis isn\u2019t the normal climate, and it\u2019s because of climate change. People should start paying attention to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe countries who are contributing least to climate change are the ones most affected, and it\u2019s so unfair, it keeps me up at night to know that so many people are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several teenagers and young adults at the march described feeling \u201chopeless\u201d for their future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen such a huge issue isn\u2019t addressed or even accepted as a real issue, it gets a bit sad when you think of everything coming down the line,\u201d said Mr Reinhardt.<\/p>\n

Geraldine Murphy, a 76-year-old from Killiney, Co Dublin, noted that her children and 10 grandchildren \u201care being impacted already\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already started, but it will worsen unless we take action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Photograph:Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Noting a \u201creally strong rhetoric\u201d from Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> during his Cop30<\/a> address, Social Democrats<\/a> leader Holly Cairns<\/a> said the \u201cgap between the rhetoric and reality is unbelievable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Cairns said climate change has \u201cfallen off the Government agenda\u201d, while also pointing to an \u201coutrage fatigue\u201d among members of the public, who are already dealing with \u201ccrises\u201d in areas such as housing, healthcare and Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really difficult for people to constantly feel outraged about everything, and when climate change poses the biggest threat, it\u2019s also important to acknowledge that it\u2019s not the most immediate one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is the reality of why it falls down the agenda, so it couldn\u2019t be more important for us to keep it on the agenda firmly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shortly before 2pm on Saturday, an irate taxi driver left his cab and wheeled two suitcases over to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,442,47570,52,18,13,14,18577,6,47074,19,17,11,12,15,16,5765,5,45899,961,34887,18578,7,8,4452],"class_list":{"0":"post-182706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-cop30","12":"tag-dublin","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-green-party","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-holly-cairns","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-micheal-martin","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-oxfam","28":"tag-renewable-energy","29":"tag-roderic-o-gorman","30":"tag-social-democrats","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-topstories","33":"tag-trocaire"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115555994664172112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}