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Climate
Interview with Sinéad Mercier, Climate Policy Researcher By Scott Murphy, SS Law and Political Science Why did you choose to study law and how did you find your time in Trinity? I originally applied to NCAD as well as Trinity, and while I wasn’t sure what to expect from Trinity, I suppose I had a sense of justice so that’s why I chose law. I loved Trinity but it was difficult at first, coming from Connemara to the “Big Smoke”. In my final two years, I got to the subjects that fitted me better. I loved Ivana Bacik’s classes, I thought she was wonderful. I also really enjoyed Alan Brady’s classes, and Yvonne Scannell’s environmental law. You’re kind of taught in first and second year that everything in law is holy writ, this is the way things are, it’s like a science. But it’s only in third and fourth year that you realise that law is socially, politically, and materially created, so that was really interesting. Why did you choose to become a policy researcher rather than pursue a more traditional career in law? I’m very independent so that was definitely one reason. Also, with the realisation in third and fourth year that law is socially created, I thought that maybe my efforts would be best placed trying to change the law, rather than trying to apply it in a positive way (which in itself is a noble thing to do). It just fit better to make the broader changes. I worked in private law for a bit with Philip Lee and KOD Lyons, working mainly with environmental impact assessments, and human rights law respectively. But I saw that legislation passed in the Dáil could make people’s lives much harder, so I just thought it would be best to go to the root. You were the Green Party’s primary Dáil researcher between 2016-2019. What kind of work did you do and what was it like? I would encourage anyone to go for a job in the Oireachtas. Generally, it’s a wonderful place to work. It’s lovely to contribute to making the world and Ireland a better place, but it was very fast-paced work. We would get a lot of emails from constituents and people who were environmentally conscious about various issues. I would meet with these activists and try to put together legislation, motions, or bills. Sometimes TDs themselves would have ideas and I would go and do some research, and then try to find a core point we could call on for legislative change. For example, I worked on legislation to end period poverty with Catherine Martin TD, and we introduced legislation to ban oil and gas exploration in Irish waters. That was interesting because it came from the ground up, with activists calling for it to be banned. It seems like the role of a Dáil researcher is a very active position then,
Photo courtesy of Sinéad Mercier
