Two weekends. Two protests. One fight for climate justice.

Skyrocketing energy bills amid a mounting cost-of-living crisis. Worsening extreme weather events. Energy-guzzling data centres draining our wages and resources. 

And the Government’s response? Ramming through legislation which will pave the way for a polluting gas terminal in Clare, locking us into continued fossil fuel dependence. [1] Increasing public transport costs. [2] Continued defence of their approach to data centre expansion - so much so that they suppressed evidence about the risks and costs of data centres in their report. [3]

As always, ordinary people are paying the price.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There are two key opportunities to take action this month to urge our Government to do better for people and the environment.

Join our protest for a data centre moratorium 

Join the protest for a data centre moratorium 

This Saturday, we’re joining forces with community groups across the country, who are facing big data centre build-outs in their neighbourhoods, for a protest urging the Government to enact a moratorium on data centres. From data centres guzzling nearly a quarter of our electricity and increasing our bills to causing noise pollution, reasons to stop new data centres are plenty - and mounting. 

Our march in Dublin is one of 73 events taking place across 15 countries in Europe, with 101 organisations signed on in support, making it a brilliant global display of people power against data centre expansion. The central EU-level campaign has a beautiful map capturing all the actions that are planned so far across the continent for the Europe-wide Day of Action on Data Centers - check it out here.

Join the National Climate Demo

Join the National Climate Demo 

Just a week later, at the National Climate Demo organised by the Stop Climate Coalition - of which we’re a founding member - we’re calling on the Government to ban liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. The Government is pushing for dirty, expensive fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when they should be doing everything possible to end our dependence on fossil fuels - the very reason why all of us are grappling with high energy bills as well as extreme weather events. 

We cannot allow a polluting gas terminal to wreak havoc on our beautiful island and cause immeasurable harm to our environment and communities. 

Together, on November 14th, we’ll send a strong, unified message urging the Government to keep Ireland LNG free - we need to reduce and end our dependence on fossil fuels at large. Getting Ireland off fossil fuels means warmer homes, lower bills, better public transport - and a healthier, fairer world at large.

There is tremendous added value to these mobilisations happening back-to-back as persistent and sustained pressure on the Government - in the form of tens of thousands taking to the streets one after the other! - makes it harder for the Government to ignore our calls. And remember, the gravity of these interconnected issues is also such that we really need to pull out all the stops possible. 

One of the biggest myths is that power lies only with those at the top. But the truth is, change is driven by communities who organise, persist, and push for a better world. The more noise we create for climate justice, the stronger our collective influence will be. Both November 7th and November 14th are shaping up to be vibrant and powerful days of collective action - both marches are opportunities to challenge the Government on some of the most pressing issues we’re facing. 

We really hope you’ll join us - you’re never too late or too small to act.

If you can make it for both the protests, that will be amazing - we really need to make the most of any and all opportunities to take action and exercise our collective people power to bring about change. If you’re able to join just one of the protests, that’s brilliant too! Every effort counts. We also want to make it possible for people who may not be available to join one protest to join the other. 

Two weekends. Two protests. One fight for climate justice. One fight for a just world where people and nature thrive. 

Together, let’s build our people power and make it harder for the Government to ignore our calls for a better, fairer world.

Notes

[1] Government Rushes €900m LNG Bill Through Dáil Ignoring Security Warnings, Clare Communities and Struggling Households

[2] 15% increase in adult fares for public transport from January

[3] Concerns over supporting data centres ahead of transport or housing scrubbed from government report

Blog by Nandana James, Communications Content Officer.