Claimants spanning several generations have launched a landmark climate lawsuit against the Irish government, arguing Dublin is failing to safeguard fundamental rights and protect present and future generations from global warming.
A grandfather, a youth activist and a child, represented by its mother, are among four parties claiming Ireland is not meeting its climate obligations.
The case, a first of its kind in Ireland, draws on the 2024 "KlimaSeniorinnen" ruling, in which the European Court of Human Rights found Switzerland had failed to adequately protect citizens from climate harms.
The ruling affirmed that states have human rights obligations to take effective climate action.
Europe is currently sweltering under an unprecedented heatwave that has smashed records in several countries, including Switzerland which recorded its hottest ever June day on Thursday with Basel baking under 38C.
"Climate change affects everybody, so having every generation represented is crucial," Philip Kearney, a 75-year-old grandfather, told AFP in Dublin.
"But the prospects for our grandchildren are truly catastrophic," said Kearney, a retired psychotherapist.
"Once you look at the science, the chances of them thriving are so heavily compromised."
Filed in 2024, the case is ready to proceed, but is awaiting the outcome of a separate climate lawsuit before the Irish courts.
- 'Intergenerational thinking' -
Another claimant, Saoi O'Connor, 23, helped pioneer Ireland's "Fridays for Future" school climate strikes after being inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
They have since become a prominent voice in international youth climate campaigns.
"In 2019 when there was this huge wave of youth climate action, there was a hyper focus on that as a really significant moment," they said.
But "we are a bit tired of climate action being seen as a youth issue, it allows for a lot of dismissal," said O'Connor, who began organising strikes drawing hundreds of students onto Irish streets while still at school.
Climate change "will predominantly impact young people, of course, but saying that allows people to put it off into the future as an abstract thing," they said.
"But that's actually not reality when we look outside right now," they added.
"We're not thinking intergenerationally as a society right now, so the climate crisis is being allowed to continue," said O'Connor.
"I think that will be very clear to the coming generations that they were not considered."
The inclusion of a child is intended to highlight the interests of future generations expected to bear the longest-lasting impacts of climate change.
Joining them in the lawsuit is public-interest legal organisation Community Law & Mediation (CLM), acting on behalf of marginalised communities.
CLM argues climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy can disproportionately affect low-income households.
It points to energy poverty as one example, saying poorer families are often least able to absorb rising energy costs while lacking access to home retrofits, solar panels or electric vehicles.
The Irish case "doesn't represent an interest group or cohort, it's on behalf of all those who are going to be impacted by climate change, which is basically everybody," CLM head Aoife Kelly Desmond told AFP.
- Swiss precedent -
It is among a growing global wave of climate litigation by citizens and campaigners.
Several courts have ordered governments to strengthen emissions-cutting plans or better protect future generations.
Kearney said the KlimaSeniorinnen ruling "acknowledged that fundamental rights of young people, older people, and children are breached by failures on climate action."
A case brought by individual applicants focused on the rights of future generations "hasn't been tested in Ireland yet in this way," said Kelly Desmond.
The claimants allege Ireland is backsliding on its commitments by carving out exceptions to its own climate laws for projects including plans to expand passenger capacity at Dublin Airport and develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.
They also point to delays in publishing the government's 2026 Climate Action Plan, saying such moves undermine obligations under Ireland's existing climate legislation.
If Ireland loses the case, it may have to rewrite its Climate Action Plan to show a credible path to meeting legally binding emissions limits.
CLM hopes the case could move forward within a year, Kelly Desmond said.
"It moves so slowly, glaciers move faster than the litigation," said Kearney.
He still attends weekly Fridays for Future protests outside parliament in Dublin, though numbers have dwindled since 2019 when millions joined climate demonstrations worldwide.
"I hope this case will contribute to another swing of that pendulum," he said.