{"id":189357,"date":"2025-11-19T17:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T17:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/189357\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T17:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T17:44:13","slug":"moral-duty-to-act-now-on-climate-change-for-future-generations-says-president-connolly-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/189357\/","title":{"rendered":"Moral duty \u2018to act now\u2019 on climate change for future generations, says President Connolly \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Catherine Connolly<\/a> has said she will do \u201ceverything\u201d in her power to keep climate<\/a> action \u201cat the top of our national and international agenda\u201d. <\/p>\n

Ms Connolly said it was \u201cabundantly clear\u201d from the latest report from the Climate Change Advisory Council that Ireland must \u201cdecarbonise and do so with the greatest urgency\u201d. <\/p>\n

Both the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council<\/a> and the Climate Change Advisory Council have previously said that Ireland could face fines of between \u20ac8 billion and \u20ac26 billion for breaching emissions targets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an An Taisce seminar in Dublin on Wednesday, Ms Connolly described the figures as \u201cincredible\u201d. <\/p>\n

The President said \u201cwithout a doubt\u201d climate change, along with ongoing wars, pose an \u201cexistential threat to our civilisation\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs President, I will use my role to foster awareness and inspire action, using my voice and the platform of the presidency to highlight the urgency of climate action to support communities, because tremendous work is being done on the ground by communities, scientists and activists working for change, and to build \u2026 on the real and close connection between Irish people and nature,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Ms Connolly said there was a moral duty to future generations \u201cto act now\u201d to protect \u201cour shared planet and our shared homes\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cTransformative action is required, action that places environmental responsibility and climate justice at the heart of everything we do,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not simply about carbon budgets, our focus on greenhouse gas emissions, it is about fairness, justice, the quality of life we leave behind and the kind of country we want to give to our children and our grandchildren.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0How will Ireland\u2019s climate worsen over the next 20 years?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly also said that energy poverty was a growing issue for many households who face rising energy costs and \u201cincreasing climate vulnerabilities\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, we need to empower and to enable people so that they may have the agency and be equipped with the knowledge and skills to act as agents and drivers of change to show ingenuity but also be politically engaged,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cClimate education must also encompass emotional and values based learning, one that acknowledges feelings of fear, anxiety and a sense of being overwhelmed by the gravity and magnitude of the climate problem that faces us now, but also one that develops values that support solidarity and a just transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that it must be ensured that climate change \u201cdoes not further disrupt education\u201d as is happening in other nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Catherine Connolly has said she will do \u201ceverything\u201d in her power to keep climate action \u201cat the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,1921,442,18,19,17,38623],"class_list":{"0":"post-189357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-catherine-connolly","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-irish-fiscal-advisory-council"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115577609537724731","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189357","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=189357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}