'Miracle' that people in Cork not drowned in beds, says minister

Minister of State warns that some Irish people 'will become migrants' due to the effects of climate change

Thu, 10 Nov, 2022 - 20:00

Michelle McGlynn and Pádraig Hoare

It is a miracle that people were not drowned in their beds in Cork during periods of intense flooding, a junior minister has said.

Discussing the very real and imminent threat that climate change poses to the country, Patrick O'Donovan said the danger of flooding in Cork city causes him the greatest level of concern.

The Minister of State at the Office of Public Works (OPW) warned that there is a "profound risk of flooding because of climate change in some parts of the country".

He predicts that people will be forced to leave their homes because of the effects of climate change and said we need to stop treating it as a problem that is in the distant future.

It is not enough to talk about emissions; now there is a need to talk about climate adaptation, said Mr O'Donovan. He added:

We talk about climate change as something that is far distant and difficult to comprehend, but there will be people in this country that will become migrants because of changes to the coast, changes to inland areas, that just simply cannot be protected.

However, leading scientists warned at the Cop27 event in Egypt that it is a "myth" that adaptation to climate change is the answer to the crisis, saying mitigation, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is as important.

Minister of State at the Office of Public Works Patrick O'Donovan said we must stop treating climate change as a problem for the future. Picture: PA

Research collated by international networks Future Earth, The Earth League, and the World Climate Research Programme found that areas with the highest susceptibility to being adversely affected by climate-driven hazards are home to 1.6bn people.

That number is projected to double by 2050, with Central America, the Sahel, Central and East Africa, the Middle East, and across the breadth of Asia, identified as most at risk. Climate-driven hazard mortality is 15 times higher in hotspot countries than in the least-vulnerable countries, it said.

At the launch of the Be Winter Ready campaign, head of forecasting at Met Éireann, Evelyn Cusack, said Ireland has been part of the "exceptionally warm" autumn in Europe this year, with the country's temperature rising by over one degree in the last century.

She said the organisation is moving towards "impact-based" weather warnings to reflect the damage extreme weather could have locally.

"We're trying to give an idea of what the weather will do rather than just what the weather will be," she said.

Roads reopened following flooding in Cork city but extreme caution still advised