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ActionTalks Final 2026

The ActionTalks Speech Writing Competition, a national initiative run by ActionAid Ireland, invites students aged 14 to 18 to explore some of the most pressing global issues of our time. Now in its twelfth year, the competition encourages young people to think critically about global citizenship, justice, and human rights, and to examine the root causes of inequality both at home and around the world.

This year, students tackled a range of powerful topics, including the impact of fossil fuels, the vital role of women’s rights organisations in ending violence, and the importance of education for girls. Their speeches reflected not only strong research and insight, but also a deep commitment to creating a more just and equal world.

And the winner is…

From 136 entries submitted by students across 33 schools in 14 counties, six finalists were selected to present their speeches before a panel of expert judges at the LinkedIn Community Space. Here, Emma O’Sullivan a student at Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare, Co. Kerry was announced as the overall winner of the competition. In recognition of her achievement, Emma received a €500 voucher, while her teacher was awarded a €100 voucher. The judging panel included Dr Salome Mbugua and Ruairí McKiernan, both recognised leaders in social justice and advocacy.

ActionTalks 2026 finalists and winner Emma O'Sullivan

Inspiring students

Speaking after the event, CEO of ActionAid Ireland, Karol Balfe, praised the participants:
“It was truly inspiring to see so many students engage with global issues in such a thoughtful and passionate way. The standard was incredibly high, making the judging process both exciting and challenging. Emma demonstrated a deep understanding of the topic, built a strong and persuasive argument, and delivered her speech with confidence and style. We are absolutely delighted to name her as this year’s winner; she and her school should be immensely proud.” 

Supported by Irish Aid

Supported by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs, ActionTalks forms part of ActionAid Ireland’s women’s rights programme in Kenya, Nepal, and Ethiopia. The initiative connects young people in Ireland with global movements for change, empowering them to become informed, active citizens shaping a more equal future.

Protesters holding End Fossil Fuels banner at a climate demonstration, advocating for renewable energy solutions.

Protestors at COP 28 in Dubai. Photo: Konrad Skotnicki.

Climate protest with diverse crowd holding signs about environmental action in a city square.

Belfast Climate Change March, 2019. Photo: Trócaire.

The Profit Driving the Crisis

Despite their overwhelming contribution to global emissions, fossil fuel companies continue to attract significant financial backing—driven by their enduring profitability. This is starkly illustrated by the case of ExxonMobil, the top fossil fuel investment held by asset managers based in Ireland. In 2023, ExxonMobil reported €33.63 billion ($36 billion) in profit. That is almost twice the GDP of Botswana (€18.1 billion) and nearly three times Namibia’s GDP (€11.5 billion).

Ireland plays a hugely disproportionate role in facilitating investments into fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. In 2023, the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland generated an estimated 72.5 million tons of CO2e. This is more than the CO2e emissions for the entire country of Ireland—and more than ten times that generated by Sierra Leone.

The Global Human Impact

The climate crisis is here, now, and it is causing disproportionate harm in the Global South. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and increasingly severe cyclones are displacing coastal communities, with projections indicating that 17% of the entire country could be underwater by 2050. The legally binding Paris Agreement on climate change explicitly acknowledges the importance of tackling private finance. Its three overarching goals are: keeping below 1.5C of warming; increasing adaptation and making finance flows consistent with low emissions and resilience.

This gives a clear mandate for action:  both tax reform and corporate regulation are needed to tackle financial flows, and both nationally in Ireland and at EU level, ‘polluter pays’ taxes are lacking and regulation of the financial sector remains weak and fragmented. While EU regulation exists, it is designed more to nudge investors toward more sustainable investment practices by increasing transparency and reporting levels than to enforce strict standards. And it is moving in the wrong direction: the recently passed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive excluded investments; and now the EU Commission’s Omnibus legislative proposal threatens to undo the limited gains made on climate plans, as well as blocking future attempts for stronger action at national level.

The Risk of Inaction

Fossil fuel investment is too profitable to remain weakly regulated. If Ireland continues with its current strategy of encouraging FDI at all costs, and relying on weak EU regulation, we are headed for catastrophe. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly warned that every fraction of a degree beyond 1.5°C brings irreversible consequences: collapsed ice sheets, vanishing coral reefs, and extreme weather events that will make vast regions of the planet uninhabitable. And yet, companies are developing oil and gas fields that could push global warming beyond 2°C.

Our research found that 91% of the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland were to companies that have plans for fossil fuel expansion like these. Ireland cannot afford inaction on this issue.

About This Research

The figures in this report regarding investment from Ireland are based on new research commissioned by ActionAid Ireland and Trócaire. In the paper, we uncover the scale of fossil fuel investment through Ireland, who the investors are, and in which fossil fuel companies they are investing.  We analyse the current regulatory framework and explain why it is inadequate—and moving in the wrong direction. And we make specific recommendations for change, which are summarised below.

Summary of Recommendations

Regulate the private financial sector
Ireland must end its outsized role as an enabler of destructive fossil fuel investment. Ireland should introduce a strong gender-responsive national human rights and environmental due diligence framework which includes the regulation of investors with respect to human rights and the environment and climate. The transposition of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive could achieve this if downstream activities are included and the Omnibus proposal is rejected. Ireland should prohibit investments in fossil fuel expansion and require investors to implement climate transition plans consistent with a 1.5°C climate limit.

Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Ireland should endorse developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to curb fossil fuel expansion and commit to a fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels.

Support tax justice
Ireland should support bold and fair new global tax rules through the UN Framework Convention on Tax, should adopt all OECD BEPS measures, and should conduct an updated and comprehensive spillover analysis of its tax policy. Ireland should take coordinated action globally, at the EU level and domestically to introduce a range of new taxes to mobilise finance needed for climate justice, based on ‘polluter pays’ and social equity principles such as wealth taxes for the highest earners, climate damages tax on investors, fossil fuel production taxes and levies on aviation and shipping.

Finance a just transition
Ireland must also meet its fair share climate finance obligations under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, and pay our ecological debt to the Global South. Ireland should support conditionality-free debt cancellation for countries on the front lines of the climate crisis, commit to a new UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, moving debt negotiations from the IMF to the UN, and to a debt workout mechanism that is fully representative and fair.

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