Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

While the Minister of State cannot comment on individual cases, he or the Government could commit to changing the law to ensure that such prosecutions do not happen again. It is an incredible situation that public money is being spent to pursue two young climate activists who could face years in jail for allegedly painting a slogan on a building and filming it or, in the case of Aislinn O'Keefe, a fine for allegedly organising a socially distanced protest against gender-based violence. That is a question of political priority. The only conclusion I can draw is that the Government wants to be able to continue to make empty promises. That is all the Government has to do on climate change. The carbon budgets do not even meet the programme for Government commitments, never mind what the science demands, which is a lot more than that. Empty promises are all the Government has and, therefore, I salute those who take action and engage in civil disobedience to highlight that. They should not be criminalised for such action.

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