WITH THE WEATHER beginning to turn, the Climate Change Advisory Council has said there has been no tangible action taken by the government to mitigate the impacts of powerful storms like those seen last winter. 

Pointing to the examples of Storms Darragh and Éowyn, which both left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power, the Council urged the government to “prioritise actions that will have the most impact” ahead of the coming winter. 

The council also noted that a cross-government review of the response to both storms is unpublished and overdue. 

Both the government’s preparedness for and response to the storms came in for criticism from the public and opposition parties at the time. 

The Council said today that there are a number of actions the government can take now, chief amongst them the organisation of ‘Emergency Response Hubs’, sites where people can go for necessities in the event of losing power or their homes being flooded. 

Another is the permanent establishment of “a resourced ‘Extreme Weather Assistance Scheme’ to support people, businesses and communities”.

The Council has urged the government to provide annual funding for these measures, starting with the upcoming budget. 

“This includes committing to making the Climate Action Regional Office and Local Authority Climate Action staff permanent with appropriate funding that will enable them to assist in targeted, localised climate resilience efforts across Ireland and allow for multi-annual planning.”

It said there is “a critical need for the sectoral plans to have targeted and ambitious actions which are fully funded with clearly defined outcomes, improved indicators and more robust monitoring to be effective in supporting communities”. 

This is particularly pertinent in addressing vulnerabilities within critical infrastructure including electricity, water and communication networks.           

Peter Thorne, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council’s Adaptation Committee said that in light of the increasing strength and frequency of powerful storms, “communities throughout Ireland must be better protected from their devastating impacts”.

“The cascading effects of these storms have exposed our vulnerability and the critical shortcomings in our preparedness and response systems”. 

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