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 city, where traffic had been stopped to facilitate a large protest.
Placing the two suitcases in front of the garda, which were followed quickly by his passenger, the driver said: “Every week they’re allowed to do it, what is this one about, even?”
After being told the march concerned climate change, he simply replied that it was “bulls**t” before returning to his cab, behind which rows of other taxis and buses were stranded.
His passenger, now wheeling his suitcases, crossed towards Aston Quay on foot, after finding an opening through the crowds who chanted: “Climate justice now.”
RM Block
Hundreds taking part gathered at the Garden of Remembrance before marching through O’Connell Street towards Molesworth Street, carrying placards which read: “Climate change is not cool”, “Cop on, don’t Cop out”, and “Don’t let our puffins go puff.”
The march, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and endorsed by more than 60 organisations and groups, including Friends of the Earth, Trócaire and Oxfam, called for a transition to renewable energy that “puts people first” over “fossil fuel greed”.
“The old system, where fossil-fuel companies profit while families struggle to pay their bills, cannot continue,” said Sinéad Roche, campaigns co-ordinator of Oxfam Ireland.
It was part of a global day of action as talks continue at Cop30 in Belém, Brazil, with Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman saying it was a reminder to the Irish Government that a “big body” of people in Ireland want to see climate action.
[ Thousands hit streets of Belém to call for action during crucial Cop30 summitOpens in new window ]
Among those participating was Sofia Santos, an 18-year-old from Co Cork who travelled to support the cause, saying it was “important to get involved”.
“I have so many concerns,” she said, adding that people her age are feeling “anxious and afraid” about their futures due to climate change.
“A lot of people are kind of hopeless as well. They know everything is going wrong, but a lot of people don’t do much about it because they feel like they’re not being represented, they don’t feel that their vote counts,” she said.
Friends Mehret Flynn and Eoin Reinhardt, both aged 16, travelled from Blessington, Co Wicklow, because climate change is a “huge existential issue”.
“I can see the changes in my community, all of the storms are insane,” Ms Flynn said, adding: “This isn’t the normal climate, and it’s because of climate change. People should start paying attention to it.
“The countries who are contributing least to climate change are the ones most affected, and it’s so unfair, it keeps me up at night to know that so many people are struggling.”
Several teenagers and young adults at the march described feeling “hopeless” for their future.
“When such a huge issue isn’t addressed or even accepted as a real issue, it gets a bit sad when you think of everything coming down the line,” said Mr Reinhardt.
Geraldine Murphy, a 76-year-old from Killiney, Co Dublin, noted that her children and 10 grandchildren “are being impacted already”.
“It’s already started, but it will worsen unless we take action,” she said.
Noting a “really strong rhetoric” from Taoiseach Micheál Martin during his Cop30 address, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the “gap between the rhetoric and reality is unbelievable”.
Ms Cairns said climate change has “fallen off the Government agenda”, while also pointing to an “outrage fatigue” among members of the public, who are already dealing with “crises” in areas such as housing, healthcare and Gaza.
“I think it’s really difficult for people to constantly feel outraged about everything, and when climate change poses the biggest threat, it’s also important to acknowledge that it’s not the most immediate one.
“I think that is the reality of why it falls down the agenda, so it couldn’t be more important for us to keep it on the agenda firmly,” she said.
