Sea levels are rising, and rising faster every year. So even if the global temperature increase is limited to 2 degrees, coastal cities are facing major upheaval. Just how much of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Belfast will be under water once that COP21 temperature "target" is hit – this can be seen from the interactive maps at irishtimes.com, using data from the Surging Seas project by Climate Central.
In the capital, say goodbye to large parts of the docklands, Sandymount and Sutton. Howth residents will have to take a boat to reach the mainland.