Elaine Loughlin: Our roads are melting, so why are our politicians so quiet on climate change?
Footprints and tyre marks visible in the melted tar on the road between Ballinhassig and Crossbarry in Cork.
On Thursday, before temperatures spiked to today's predicted 30C, roads in Co Cork were melting.
Despite council workers spreading grit on the slippery and melting tar, motorists were urged to avoid a local route between Ballinhassig and Crossbarry until the weather cools.
Road surfaces will be only one of many issues that will require serious consideration and drastic changes in policy as climate change has a real impact on our lives.
While the road in question was treated with a spray of chip and tar mix about 18 months ago as part of a minor maintenance works, chairman of the Carrigaline Municipal District, Ben Dalton O’Sullivan told the it obviously wasn’t enough to protect the soft surface beneath.
He said that in the context of climate change, local authorities will have to examine and consider adjusting the mix or type of tarmac they use for road projects to ensure they can withstand days of sustained heat.
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Complaining about dissolving roads may seem miserable as the nation basks in sunshine, but we need to get to grips with the devastating impact our changing climate will have, and is already having, both here and abroad.
Unfortunately, at a time when the alarm should be sounding loudest, our politicians have been distracted by a plethora of other issues — some worthy of national attention, others bordering on the farcical — which has seen the climate emergency plummet down the agenda.
As TDs prepare to rise for the summer recess this coming week, a look back on the business of Leinster House since January shows that politicians on all sides were initially consumed by Lowrygate and the speaking time debacle.
As would be expected, the first term of the Dáil also had a significant focus on housing, with changes to the rent pressure zones dominating debate for weeks; while a number of health-related issues cropped up, including the myriad of controversies surrounding Children's Health Ireland and maternity services.
In recent weeks, the cost of living and the rocketing price of groceries have been raised repeatedly, not to mention the pre-budget row over student fees.
This week, as ice creams and roads disintegrated in the heat, climate change was briefly raised in the Dáil chamber.
"Do not get me wrong, the bit of sun is great, but we need to recognise this is not normal," was how Labour TD Ciarán Ahern put it to the Tánaiste when raising the drought warnings that have been issued across multiple counties and citing a Met Éireann hot weather alert he had received on his phone before coming into the Dáil.
"People feel hamstrung by this Government’s inaction and delay in providing even the most basic measures to allow them to engage in climate action," Ahern said.
"People want to retrofit their homes, but the system of grants restricts this to well-off households with significant savings. People want to switch to public transport, but the services are not there or already at capacity."
Perhaps briefly forgetting that he is a leader in the current Government who therefore has the ability to put an item firmly on the agenda and to enact change, Simon Harris said it was "welcome" to have a question on climate put to him.
"I am not sure we, as a Dáil, are having the level of focus and discussion needed on this issue," the Tánaiste-turned-commentator said.
The 2020 programme for government, which was drafted in conjunction with the Green Party, contained 270 commitments related to climate and environment, many of them detailed and specific.
While the current programme for government document continues to reference climate measures, campaigners and civil society groups have been quick to criticise a perceived ambiguity in some of the language and a move away from measures aimed at tackling agriculture and water in the context of climate action.
Gone is the previous guarantee that spending on public transport infrastructure would be 2:1 over roads, which Eamon Ryan guarded tightly during his term as a minister, sparking considerable fury from some Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers last time around.
There has also been a shift in policy around data centres and the aviation sector.
While the current programme for government document commits to assigning funds from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to the agricultural sector, it also states that "all measures under the Nature Restoration Law will be completely voluntary for farmers".
A move to ensure herd numbers are not cut, a flash point in the last Coalition, is alluded to through the provision which states that the Government "recognises distinct characteristics of biogenic methane" — a gas produced by cattle — and will "advocate for the accounting of this Greenhouse gas to be reclassified at EU and international level".
Similarly, the Coalition has, in recent months, been strongly defending the special nitrates derogation provided to Irish farmers.
All of this cannot tally with the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions.
In May, the Environmental Protection Agency found that Ireland has "moved backwards" in its goal of reducing emissions by 51% by 2030, with the latest statistics showing the country is now on course for a maximum reduction of 23%.
Target updates and reports outlining the global climate catastrophe can often feel academic and on a scale far beyond our comprehension. We see catastrophic fires in Europe and devastating floods in Texas, and seem almost rooted to the spot, paralysed by the doom-scrolling.
But delays to Midleton flood barriers reported in this newspaper last week and roads melting before this weekend's heatwave even fully kicks in should be tangible warnings that make us all think about the massive impact that is starting to take effect on our shores.
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