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. 

Storm Darragh hit in December of last year, followed by Storm Éowyn, which battered the country in January — leaving 715,000 homes, farmers, and businesses without power.

An annual review published on Tuesday by the climate council has criticised the Government for its lack of action in response to the storm season. It urged the Government to commit to defined annual funding for climate adaptation actions, starting with the budget.

The report expressed its disappointment that a cross-government review of the response to Storm Éowyn remains unpublished.

The review was expected to identify key learnings across all sectors, it said, but is overdue despite a new storm season approaching.

Emergency response hubs

The climate council also recommended that emergency response hubs, which would assist people with basic needs when a service outage occurs, along with a permanent extreme weather assistance scheme’ to support people, businesses, and communities.

Maynooth professor of geography (climate change) and chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council’s adaptation committee, Peter Thorne, said: “With extreme weather events continuing to increase in both magnitude and frequency, 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. Stronger political leadership with a whole-of-Government response to these challenges is essential to achieve the goal of a climate-resilient Ireland.

“The publication of Ireland’s first national climate change risk assessment and the inclusion of climate change adaptation factors in the revised national planning framework are positive developments that urgently need to be built on.”