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Trio can challenge Government on climate

Climate activists backed by the charity Community Law & Mediation (CLM) have been given the go-ahead to challenge what they describe as “inadequate” Government action on climate change.

As well as CLM, the application was made by youth climate activist Saoi O’Connor, retired psychotherapist Philip Kearney, and a 20-month-old infant represented by their mother and next friend, who cannot be named.

They are seeking a declaration from the High Court that the Government is not complying with the Climate and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended).

Legal obligations

They argue that the Climate Action Plan 2024, in which the Government sets out the roadmap for meeting Ireland’s legally binding carbon budget, fails to meet the legal standards set by the Oireachtas and, as a result, undermines the State’s efforts at effective climate action in line with Ireland’s legal obligations.

They claim that the 2024 plan is not in compliance with the first carbon budget and was prepared, submitted, and approved in breach of the 2015 act.

In addition, they argue that the plan violates the fundamental rights of the three individual applicants, marginalised groups that CLM works with, and future generations, as protected by the Constitution of Ireland, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Implementation

Rose Wall (chief executive of CLM) said that Ireland’s emissions were not decreasing rapidly enough to stay within the confines of the State’s own legally binding 2025 and 2030 carbon budgets, adding that successive climate-action plans had “fallen short” on implementation.

She stated that the groups that CLM had represented since its establishment almost 50 years ago stood to be “disproportionately” affected by climate change

This case is taking place in parallel with a separate challenge by Friends of the Irish Environment to the Climate Action Plan 2023.

In 2020, the Supreme Court quashed the National Mitigation Plan published by the Government in 2017, which was aimed at tackling climate change, ruling that it was not specific enough to comply with the 2015 legislation.