Irish universities should go meat-free on their menus to limit their contribution to the climate crisis, according to one campaign group.

The UK-based, student-led campaign also wants to shift public opinion in favour of a plant-based food system.

The Plant-Based University Campaign has already received support from a number of Irish and British academics.

Sarah McCaffery of the Plant-Based University Campaign told Moncrieff the change should start here.

"What we're asking for is our universities to transition to 100% plant-based catering," she said.

"We're doing this as... we're in climate and ecological crisis.

"A lot of the studies that are coming out are coming from our own universities.

"We're calling for them to transition in order to give us the best chances of a future to graduate into."

'It's really positive'

Ms McCaffery said this change could be done by votes from students.

"We've seen in a lot of the unitistieis that we've held these votes in, we've had record-breaking numbers of people voting in favour of this transition," she said.

"So it's really positive."

Ms McCaffery said the new approach can work alongside societies and student unions.

"We've seen really positive conversations and outcomes," she said.

"It's the first time I've been really positive about the future after learning about the climate crisis.

"We've had seven major wins, which is seven universities saying they would transition to 100% plant-based catering."

Main image shows students at Trinity College, Dublin. Image: Mark Henderson / Alamy

Ms McCaffery said support for the campaign is growing.

"We've had academics, public figures, industry professionals, vets, grassroot campaigners," she said.

"In Trinity College Dublin, the most signatures came from the medical department in there.

"It's also climate and geography departments as well [that] we've had a lot of signatures from too," she added.

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