“This is not a time for business as usual”: Financial Justice Ireland calls for action as EU Finance Ministers meet in Dublin

“This is not a time for business as usual”: Financial Justice Ireland calls for action as EU Finance Ministers meet in Dublin

Financial Justice Ireland is calling on the Irish Government to put global financial justice at the heart of this week’s ECOFIN meeting, as EU Finance Ministers gather in Dublin on 18 - 19 September amid escalating climate and ecological breakdown, deepening inequality, and continuing cost-of-living crisis.

Financial Justice Ireland is adding its voice to a joint call from more than 30 Irish and European civil society organisations urging Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris to put fossil fuel profit taxation on the ECOFIN agenda and advance a fair European framework that can help finance a just transition and international climate action and support households and public services. 

Hilary Darcy, Director of Financial Justice Ireland, said:

“We are living through climate and ecological breakdown while enormous wealth and profits continue to be generated from the activities driving that crisis. This is not a time for business as usual.

“Economic policy is never separate from climate justice, inequality or people’s everyday lives. Through its EU Presidency, Ireland has an opportunity to show bold leadership and help put tax justice, climate justice and the principle that polluters should pay firmly on the European agenda. 

“The question facing Europe is not whether we can afford ambitious action. It is whether, in the face of mounting human and ecological costs, we can afford not to act.”

On Friday 18 September, as Finance Ministers meet, FJI will take the conversation onto the streets with its Culture Night event, There Is No Planet B: An IFSC Walking Tour in a Time of Climate Breakdown. 

Through speakers, protest, performance and music, the tour will explore the links between finance, fossil fuels, climate breakdown, tax justice, data centres, housing and the urgent need for a just transition that puts human flourishing and ecological survival before profit and endless economic growth.

ENDS

The informal meeting of EU Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers (ECOFIN) takes place in Dublin on 18–19 September 2026 as part of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

There Is No Planet B: An IFSC Walking Tour in a Time of Climate Breakdown is organised by Financial Justice Ireland in collaboration with Culture Night Dublin and contributors from Unite the Union, Christian Aid Ireland, Comhlámh, Friends of the Earth Ireland, the European Commission Expert Group on Farmland, Community Action Tenants Union, Global Citizenship Education facilitators, and the arts.

The event is co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Financial Justice Ireland and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.