More than a week after Storm Éowyn, with over 100,000 homes and businesses still without power, and many premises left without water or internet connectivity, Ireland is clearly not the climate-resilient society that it aspires to be. The term “climate suffering” may be more apt than “climate resilience”.
Extreme weather events are predicted to become more frequent, bringing more disruption, material damage and inevitably loss of life. But is Ireland adequately prepared?
What is clear from Storm Éowyn is that our overhead power lines and our telecommunications infrastructure are very exposed to high wind speeds. Cascading failures occurred in our water and railway networks due to their heavy dependency on our electricity network.
There are interdependencies across our critical infrastructure networks which require a co-ordinated approach to adaptation and planning across different sectors, with multiple infrastructure owners and operators.
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These interdependencies will only intensify in future as we electrify more of our transport and heating sectors to meet our targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
As we saw this week, one critical area of concern is water infrastructure, particularly water and wastewater treatment plants. The storm left approximately 84,000 people without water, with an additional 100,000 classified as being in the “at risk” category in areas where treatment plants have lost power and are relying solely on reservoir stores.
Extreme weather events disrupt water infrastructure in several ways, including increased flooding, which can overwhelm treatment systems and compromise water quality. Droughts reduce the availability of source water, putting additional stress on already limited supplies.
Addressing these challenges requires investments in adaptive infrastructure – such as flood-resilient treatment plants and systems designed to handle variable water levels. Enhanced monitoring technologies can also support operators in responding swiftly to changing conditions, thereby minimising service interruptions.
Electricity supply discontinuity is a critical concern for water infrastructure during severe weather events. Robust backup power systems, such as on-site backup generators and battery storage, are essential to addressing this.
Microgrids can be established for such critical infrastructure to ensure localised energy independence, reducing reliance on external power supplies. Co-ordinated efforts with energy providers can help direct restoration efforts to critical infrastructure during outages.
Strengthening water infrastructure also requires improved collaboration between utility companies and local governments. Public education initiatives could help these efforts by encouraging water conservation during shortages and preparing communities for potential service disruptions.
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Our transport networks are also affected by extreme weather. In the case of Storm Éowyn, there was little choice but to halt public transport services due to the risk of life. Resilience in this case was seen in the ability of large parts of the workforce to work from home, but of course this depended upon them having power and internet connectivity. The costs to the economy of periods like this are significant and are predicted to become greater in the future.
Social media was full of stories of people without power using alternative sources such as electric vehicles to run their fridges and freezers. Sales of these vehicles are, however, highest in urban areas – and these were the areas that felt the least impacts last week.
The west of the country was by far the worst hit. Much of this region consists of rural, sparsely populated areas where it is a slow process to restore power in the aftermath of a storm.
The risk has been greatest to vulnerable older people, and that’s reflected in the increase in hospital admissions in recent days, making it clear that extreme weather events in Ireland pose a significant threat, not just to our quality of life, but also to the health of our population.
While the scientific consensus on some climate hazards in Ireland is very clear in terms of projected changes due to climate change, for other risks it is less certain. Scientists confidently predict warmer, wetter weather in Ireland, with more intense rainfall during winter, and longer, drier periods during the summer months. Windstorms appear to be trickier to pinpoint in terms of projected patterns.
We may need something akin to the carbon budget approach to climate-change mitigation in Ireland
However, there is no doubt that we are in uncharted territory with the record-breaking wind gusts recorded in Co Galway last week. The link between the extremes experienced during Storm Éowyn and climate change is expected to be firmly established by a weather-attribution study in the coming months, similar to the one carried out for the heavy precipitation during 2023’s Storm Babet, which scientists demonstrated was made 13 per cent more likely due to climate change.
There is an urgent need for the implementation of adaptation measures across all aspects of our society. Although Ireland has set out a legal requirement to become a climate-resilient society by 2050, according to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, it is not yet clear what this looks like or what the pathway to achieving it will be.
Ireland’s first national climate-change risk assessment, which is due to be published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the coming months, will help us to understand how climate risk varies in Ireland, geographically and over time. This is a critical first step in terms of adaptation.
However, once the risks have been pinpointed, significant investment and a commitment from government in terms of adaptation finance, alongside a clear strategy, will be needed. Clearly defined metrics and targets towards achieving climate resilience are vital to effectively monitoring progress. We may need something akin to the carbon budget approach to climate-change mitigation in Ireland.
Much of our critical infrastructure, particularly our electricity, water supply and communications networks, need to be upgraded to ensure that they can withstand future climate shocks. These efforts must be backed by adequate funding and rolled out in a relatively short time frame, rather than a piecemeal approach over many decades.
The imminent decarbonisation of many sectors presents an opportunity simultaneously to develop climate resilience. The adoption of battery storage alongside renewables would decrease the reliance of communities on the electricity network and increase their ability to cope with extreme storm events.
We must protect those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This means ensuring just adaptation that targets resources where the climate risk is greatest. We can achieve this by equipping local communities with the knowledge, funding, and resources they need to implement local adaptation since climate risks are generally best understand at the local level.
The new Government has its work cut out to ensure the forthcoming EPA plan is enacted with urgency, and that the approach it is not piecemeal and reactionary like it has been in the past.
Assistant Prof Muhammad Ali, Prof Brian Caulfield and Assistant Prof Julie Clarke are at the department of civil, structural and environmental engineering at Trinity College Dublin
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