Climate expert challenges dockland developments

ONE of the country’s foremost experts on climate change has questioned the wisdom of proceeding with dockland developments in Cork and Dublin, when rising sea water levels pose such a threat to Irish cities.

UCC Professor of Physical Geography Robert Devoy said the cost of building barrages like the Thames Barrage would be very high — but such barriers would help alleviate the effects on Cork and Dublin of calamitous storm surges, which are forecast as global warming increases.

Professor Devoy, who is a member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said the Government and local authorities must, at least, consider rowing back on dockland development, in light of the large stocks of vacant commercial and domestic property still on the market.