Ireland: extreme weather here to stay, warns climatologist

“We have had a short term view of where we put housing in terms of risk in the past. One hopes this is a lesson for the design standards which will come out from the Department of the Environment hopefully later this year,” said Prof John Sweeney of the National University of Ireland.

“The indications are there will be an emphasis on protecting housing structures rather than avoiding flood risk areas. There are 400 locations across the country prone to flood risk. We cannot protect all of those even if we stop building in flood plains now” he continued.