Mullingar students stage climate strike

Secondary school students from Mullingar staged a protest in the town centre on Friday afternoon as part of a global campaign by young people to get world leaders to take action on climate change.

Around 50 students from the town's secondary schools, many holding homemade placards, congregated in Market Square at midday, one of over 120 similar protests taking place around the country at the same time.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, spokesperson Caoilfhinn Ní Choiligh said that local young people were eager to have their voice heard and to show solidarity with their contemporaries around the globe.

“Today we are standing with 105 countries around the world to promote awareness of climate change and to call for action worldwide. It is an international movement and we hope that by doing our part here we are raising awareness in Mullingar. We are standing in solidarity with the 21 other groups marching and protesting in Ireland today. We said we were going to do something here to raise awareness and get the word out,” she said.

WATCH: Spokesperson Caoilfhinn Ní Choiligh spoke to the Westmeath Examiner

A student in Loreto College, Ms Ni Choiligh said that young people felt the need to protest due to the inaction of older generations on climate change.

“We are not attending school, we are standing here today instead of being in class and that makes an impact; we care, we want to make the change because no one else is doing it at the moment,” she said.

WATCH: Mullingar students were in fine voice today during their climate strike in the Market Square.

Student climate strikes took place in over 100 countries on Friday as part of the Fridays for Future movement started by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg last summer.

The biggest protests in Ireland took place in Cork and Dublin, where over 8,000 young people held a protest outside Leinster House.