Severe weather attributed to human impact

The increased ferocity and intensity of storms that battered the Irish coast in recent days can be attributed to man-made climate change, says one of the country’s foremost experts on climate change.

Robert Devoy’s comments come after Lahinch and Doolin in Co Clare and Salthill in Co Galway suffered millions of euro of storm damage, with a four-ton rock being flung about 30m into the middle of a coastal road in Doolin.

In Dublin City, the highest tide ever recorded saw the Liffey burst its banks yesterday near the Guinness Storehouse. The East Link Toll Bridge also had to be closed yesterday. Tidal flooding warnings have been issued for Cork City for the rest of the weekend.