“Climate change is going to lead to more ferocious storms and the consequences that follow.”
That is the message from Marie Donnelly, chair of Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC), the body that advises Government, in the wake of a new report by Europe’s climate analysts.
As Climate and Science Correspondent Caroline O’Doherty reports in our lead story today, Ireland’s exposure to extreme weather is set to increase.
The Global Climate Highlights report by the EU’s Copernicus climate change monitoring service shows how 2025 was Earth’s third hottest year on record, marking an 11-year streak of temperatures above normal.
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All indications are this run will continue, with rising average temperatures reaching a perilous threshold by 2030 that scientists had not expected would happen until around 2040.
Ireland’s experience closely follows the global trend, with 2025 the country’s second-warmest year on record and the last four years the warmest documented. Last year was also marked by pronounced weather-related difficulties for many.
O’Doherty mentions how Storm Éowyn brought the most destructive winds on record almost a year ago, prolonged regional droughts prompted Uisce Éireann to impose the earliest-ever water restrictions and severe localised flooding inflicted heavy damage on parts of the south, southeast and northeast.
Ireland also had its warmest summer despite no official heatwave. Instead, unusual conditions kept daytime heat from dissipating, leading to uncomfortably warm nights that kept overall temperatures high.
All of this poses a huge challenge to Ireland’s political system amid an expectation that the State will miss its emissions-cut target by half.
As reported last week, Minister for Climate Darragh O’Brien told Harry McGee that Ireland will reduce greenhouse emissions by just half of its 51 per cent target by 2030.
It was his clearest statement to date on the likelihood of achieving the ambitious target of cutting emissions by half compared with 2018 figures, Mr O’Brien has accepted there would be a significant shortfall.
He said, however, that substantial and rapid reductions would be seen from the early 2030s onwards, once offshore wind power is added to the national grid.
This may be the case, but with the Copernicus data indicating the years immediately ahead could bring more severe challenges it is another reminder of the need to pick of the pace when it comes to climate action.
Donnelly, of the CCAC, said the implications of the data must be made real for the public and policymakers and that “These are things that really impact on people’s homes and property and how they live.”
Best Reads
World War Three? Taoiseach has more pressing concerns as Dáil reconvenes – Miriam Lord surveys the first day back in Leinster House after the Christmas break.
In his analysis Political Editor Pat Leahy writes that international events dominated Dáil proceedings but Taoiseach Micheál Martin knows demonstrating competence on domestic issues remains the biggest challenge.
Greenland and Denmark will hold high-stakes talks on Wednesday in Washington over US ambitions to annex the Arctic island, vowing to “go in together and leave together”. Derek Scally reports from Nuuk.
Broadcaster and former Fianna Fáil candidate Gráinne Seoige has called on the Government to pass law criminalising AI-generated fake nude images. Seoige has previously spoken about how a “deepfake” non-consensual intimate image of her generated by AI was widely shared online during her unsuccessful general election campaign in 2024. Ellen Coyne and Marie O’Halloran report here.
Harry McGee writes that number of children with mild mental health or developmental difficulties have waited up to 11 years for a first assessment for services, including psychological assessment and occupational therapy.
On the Arts & Ideas page Nadine O’Regan highlights Irish fiction debuts to look forward to this year. Among a rich crop of fiction is set to emerge in 2026 is the debut novel The Lies Between Us by Jen Bray, formerly of this parish. Now political editor of the Sunday Times, Bray was previously a political correspondent with The Irish Times. She told O’Regan that getting published as a fiction writer “almost happened by accident” setting out how on The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast, a listener sent in a question asking which book those on the panel would like to write. She revealed she was finishing a crime and mystery novel and a publisher was listening and asked her about it.
Playbook
There is an opportunity for TDs to raise topical issues in the Dáil from 9am.
Independent TDs have a private members’ motion on Uisce Éireann (Irish Water) infrastructure delivery, accountability and repair timelines to be debated at 10am.
Leaders’ Questions is at noon.
Government Business from 1.12pm includes statements on last month’s European Council summit and a second stage debate on legislation relating to gas safety.
The weekly Dáil votes are at 8.44pm.
Representatives of the Irish Dental Association, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health will be before the Committee on health to answer questions on dental services from 9.30am.
The impact of the Hot School Meals Programme will be evaluated during a meeting of the Committee on Education from 12.45pm.
The Committee on Communications will hear from the Garda, Media Literacy Ireland and others as it examines the regulation of online platforms and supports to improve online safety and participation, from 12.30pm.
Eirgird, Bord na Móna and IDA Ireland are to appear at the Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery to discuss the importance of renewable energy generation, national grid capacity and the role this plays in attracting foreign direct investment. The meeting starts at 3.30pm.
The Seanad does not meet again until January 20th.
The full Oireachtas schedule can be found here.
