Five Degrees: ‘There is no better group of individuals to make climate action an election issue than younger voters’

Senator Lynn Boylan’s proposals for protecting the environment include reducing the voting age to 16, making ecocide a criminal offence, turning her city back garden into a wildlife-friendly space and leaving the Energy Charter Treaty

Senator Lynn Boylan says there will only be buy-in for climate action across the political spectrum if it becomes an election issue . Picture: Fergal Phillips

People know Lynn Boylan as a Sinn Féin politician. What many people don’t know is that she took environmental studies in UCD and worked in the environmental sector for many years before running for office.

“I went down to Killarney National Park, first to volunteer, clearing Rhododendron from the oak woodlands, and then I stayed down there for seven years working in the Killarney National Park education centre,” she said.

“With the economic crash, I ...