Climate council criticises Government for not learning lessons in storm response

Workers clearing a fallen tree on Grove Park Drive in Dublin in the wake of Storm Éowyn which wreaked havoc throughout Ireland in January 2025. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Not enough lessons have been learned by the Government in the aftermath of two of the most destructive storms of recent years, with funding to bolster defences against future climate calamities critically short, Ireland’s independent Climate Change Advisory Council has warned.

Storm Darragh and Storm Éowyn caused widespread wind damage across the country from December to January and resulted in multiple status red weather warnings, with hundreds of thousands of homes across the country left without power and damage estimated in the hundreds of millions of euro.