Ms Molly Gordon-Bolles:

I am a 17-year-old student and climate activist from Temple Carrig School in Greystones. I am here to talk about what climate change means to us, as students, and about what needs to be done. My future and that of my children and my grandchildren depend entirely on what is done now, not what is said, promised or proposed, as empty promises do not change anything. The only thing that changes the world is action. The Earth cannot hear one's words. It cannot tell one what to do or feel one's confusion or denial on the topic.

I will be a voter soon like many other young people so the politicians need to listen to their electorate. There is such a blindness when it comes to climate change. People have this mentality that if it is not affecting them it does not matter. I hope it does not come down to another global disaster like the recent cyclone in Mozambique for actions to take place. This is only one example of the consequences of climate change. Our actions have affected the lives of 1.85 million Mozambicans, caused the death of more than 500 vulnerable people, destroyed more than 33,000 houses, damaged 500,000 ha of crops, and devastated families. Yet nothing is being done and we only have 11 and a half years before climate change becomes irreversible.

Climate change is not just a problem or issue for politicians or adults to tackle. It is not a problem that young people should be stuck with dealing with alone. We need every single human on earth to recognise that this is an emergency, and to do that we need to declare one. We are told that action is taking place, and even paper straws come in plastic packaging. Agriculture, energy and transport industries accounted for 72.5% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. For 2020, Ireland was given a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below what they were in 2005. We are currently on target to reduce emissions by less than 1% come 2020. This is going to result in over €600 million in fines.

One may think that hope is lost, that we pushed it aside for too long, but that only makes the problem worse. We must accept that this is happening and we need to do something about it now. I thank the committee.