On today’s episode, the generational divide over climate action.

While most of the world agrees with the scientific fact that humans are dangerously altering the earth’s climate, we can’t agree what to do about it. Global powers and corporate giants quarrel over who should do what, while generations argue about the need for urgency. In a global crisis where the blame and the damage are unequally distributed, how do we create the consensus needed to act before it’s too late?

At Ireland's Edge, in front of a live audience, Chris was joined by three fascinating guests who see climate change from different perspectives:

Alex White is a Senior Counsel and is Director of the Institute for International & European Affairs. He was previously a TD and Senator, as well as a government minister in multiple departments.

Martha Farrell is a founding member of the Maharees Conservation Association here in West Kerry, an award-winning volunteer community organisation set up to protect a vital tombolo on the Dingle peninsula. She is also a lecturer at Munster Technological University.

And Caitlin Faye Maniti is a student at Maynooth University who was previously President of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Association. She contributes to Ireland’s National Youth Assembly, and was a co-author of a recent Unicef Ireland report on the impact of Climate Change on children.

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For centuries, Irish universities have been bastions of intellectual life, shaping education, politics, culture, and debate. With over half of young people receiving a third-level education, Ireland boasts one of the world's most university-educated populations. Yet, amidst political, financial, and societal pressures, uncertainty looms - can these institutions maintain their standard of scholarship and retain their value within our rapidly evolving world?

In this episode, Professor Orla Feely, President of University College Dublin, and Professor John O’Halloran, President of University College Cork, are interviewed by Professor John Naughten, a senior research fellow at Cambridge University and renowned technology columnist for The Observer, giving their assessment of the challenges and opportunities.

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It is no exaggeration to say that the history of modern Ireland has been played out on the stage of our national theatre, The Abbey, founded in 1904, and after independence the first publicly-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world. It was there that Ireland first saw many of the great plays of Gregory, Yeats, Synge, O’Casey and others, often to great public debate and controversy. The Abbey has also brought Irish theatre to stages all around the world through its successful touring productions, alongside promoting new playwrights here at home.

Recent decades however have seen financial and management difficulties, alongside a long-delayed building redevelopment plan. Caitríona McLaughlin is co-director and artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, where her recent production of Brian Friel’s Translations won a UK Theatre Award after its tour of Ireland, North and South.

At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle she talked about her work, the Abbey, and theatre more broadly with musician and cultural consultant Dermot McLaughlin.

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