News

‘No legal standing’ to argue for citizens’ constitutional rights

An environmental group’s argument that the State’s key climate plan impinges on citizens’ human rights should be discarded as it does not have the legal standing to do so, the High Court heard today.

The court is currently hearing a landmark climate case brought by Friends of the Irish Environment (FiE) as the group – under the Climate Case Ireland moniker – seeks an order quashing the National Mitigation Plan.

FiE argues that the Plan is not designed to achieve the substantial reductions needed to halt rising emissions and is thus a clear breach of Irish citizens’ constitutional right to life.

Speaking this afternoon on behalf of the State, Rory Mulcahy SC said that that as FiE is a company limited by guarantee it does not have locus standi to “assert an entitlement to those rights”.

For the full story from the Green News, click here