The Climate Change Advisory Council has said that there has not yet been enough tangible action undertaken to address the significant shortcomings exposed by Storms Darragh and Éowyn and has called on Government to prioritise actions that will have the most impact in advance of the storm season.  

Launching its Annual Review on Preparing for Ireland's Changing Climate, today, the Council expressed its disappointment that a cross-government review of the response to Storm Éowyn expected to identify key learnings across all sectors is overdue and remains unpublished.  

The Council has said there are areas that Government can, and must, act on now.  They include delivery of the ‘Emergency Response Hubs’ which assist people with basic needs in the event of services outages and the permanent establishment of a resourced ‘Extreme Weather Assistance Scheme’ to support people, businesses and communities.  

Acknowledging the vital role that Local Authorities play in both preparing for and responding to severe weather events, the Council urged the Government to commit to defined annual funding for climate adaptation actions, starting with Budget 2026. This includes committing to making the Climate Action Regional Office and Local Authority Climate Action staff permanent with appropriate funding that will enable them to assist in targeted, localised climate resilience efforts across Ireland and allow for multi-annual planning. 

The Council also notes the importance of the forthcoming Sectoral Adaptation Plans, stating that these have the potential to deliver the greatest contribution to national climate resilience. However, there is a critical need for the sectoral plans to have targeted and ambitious actions which are fully funded with clearly defined outcomes, improved indicators and more robust monitoring to be effective in supporting communities. This is particularly pertinent in addressing vulnerabilities within critical infrastructure including electricity, water and communication networks.  

Addressing the need for urgent action on adaptation, Prof. Peter Thorne, Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council’s Adaptation Committee 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. 

“The revised National Development Plan must ensure that national climate priorities are translated into real, tangible resilience projects locally, especially through the delivery of actions identified in local authority climate action plans. 

“There must also be greater accountability for the delivery of climate adaptation across Government. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Department of the Taoiseach must work to ensure that the most impactful actions from the Sectoral Adaptation Plans are embedded into the Climate Action Plan 2026, delivering measurable improvements in climate resilience throughout Ireland.”