Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and I am glad the Government is looking at the potential impact across a range of sectors. As he said, this may not happen this century but there is a real risk of it happening. We are already seeing a lot of strange weather events as a result of climate change.I would be concerned if Government policy is that it will put Noah's Ark on top of the Sugarloaf or whatever, and that this could be the approach, but I am happy that in order to try to address some of the concerns, it is being dealt with right across all these sectors.

It is also critical there is a whole-of-government approach to raising concerns around the potential impact of this kind of event. As I said, it is to be hoped nobody in the House will see it. However, there is a real fear for future generations that if the AMOC collapses, it will have, as the Minister of State outlined and I talked about, profound implications for Ireland, probably much more than any other single event we could see in the next century. That is why it is critical that we look to combat it but are prepared if it happens. The evidence and research show that the AMOC has weakened by approximately 15% since 1950. If that continues, the reality is, while we might not see it, at some stage in the future there will be a real danger it will collapse.