Children gather on streets of Dublin for climate change protest
Posted on: 21-01-2019
Our children’s rally last Saturday was a big success, with over 800 people participating in the rally and giving children the chance to share their concerns for our future on this planet and push leaders to take action on behalf of these and future generations. The rally was covered in different media outlets including the Irish Examiner, Image, Dublin live and the Independent. Below, a short summary is given of the article in the Independent
“Hundreds of young people have taken to the streets of Dublin to call on government to do more to tackle climate change.
The protest at Leinster House came just days before Friends of the Irish Environment under the banner Climate Case Ireland will attempt to take legal action against the Irish government.
The group claims the government has failed in its attempts to address the issue of climate change.
The Children’s Rally for Climate Action gathered first at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, where some of the young representatives posted a symbolic message of concern to Minister Richard Bruton.
The protest, which numbered up to 500 people at its peak, then moved towards Leinster House where a number of young speakers, led by Sadhbh O’ Neill, encouraged the crowd to continue to sign a petition to show their support for the case.
Speakers at the children’s rally included Nicole Murray, 11, from Kilkenny, who said the voices of the young need to be heard.
“I won’t have a vote for another seven years. But another seven years of greenhouse gas emissions will be a disaster,” she said.
“Children need their voices to be heard!
“We always think of Ireland as a green country, but if we continue as we are, it will be nothing but a dump.
“To me wildlife is very important. But we are being very selfish, and we’re not taking care of animals and fish as we fill the oceans and beaches up with plastic.”
Sophie Gibbons, 16, from south Dublin, said she fears her generation will “have to pick up the broken pieces of our world once we become adults”.
“Our children may never know what an elephant or a tiger is because they were all killed off before they were even born. Even the birds are disappearing.”
UCD student Hannah Fitzpatrick, 19, added: “We need to recognise that climate change isn’t ‘just another issue’. It is a message from Earth herself telling us that our whole way of doing things is wrong and needs, as soon as possible, radical rethinking.
“I believe this is needed because either way things are going to radically change.”
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