Dr Ina Kelly was casually listening to the radio during a few days off in the baking summer of 2018 when an item on Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme propelled her straight back into work mode. “There were people calling in from hospital saying they were overheating,” she recalls. “From a health-and-safety perspective, that was all wrong. We were meant to be providing safe spaces for people to get well and they were on Joe Duffy saying they were dying of the heat. “That was my wake-up moment.” Kelly, a specialist in public-health medicine, contacted staff responsible for emergency management in the HSE and began advocating for heatwave preparedness to be added to their checklist. A few years later, she was appointed the first national lead on environment and health within the HSE’s National Health Protection Office, a post she retired from earlier this year. But she hasn’t stopped advocating. A member of the adaptation committee of the Climate Change Advisory Council, she says work is really only beginning on getting the health sector – and Ireland more generally – ready for extreme heat. “I’ve worked in many wards and they are not fit for warm weather in any way,” she says. “Labour wards must be cool and neonatal wards need to be within a narrow therapeutic range. They can’t be allowed to get too hot. Dr Ina Kelly has wooden shutters on her windows that she closes over when the sun is especially hot. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times “But you really need temperature control where all the elderly people are – hospitals and nursing homes. “I was in an emergency department (ED) a while ago with an elderly person and even getting a drink of water was difficult. “Our EDs need to be comfortable for patients and staff but they also need facilities for people who come in with heat-related conditions and who need cooling. What facilities are in place for that? “I was talking to some physiotherapists and they said their patients are miserable in the heat. These are often people in rehabilitation and they have to push themselves hard to make progress, but if they push themselves hard in the heat, they could do more harm. “They could be in cardiac rehabilitation so they’re particularly vulnerable. But do you stop their very important rehabilitation, maybe for weeks, and set back their progress? These are all issues that need addressed now.” As Kelly speaks, most of Ireland is experiencing a third round of unusually hot temperatures in a little over six weeks. Record highs at the end of May were followed by an official heatwave in the third week of June, while the current spell is proving longer and more intense. Dr Ina Kelly opens the wooden shutters in her home. The shutters are in place to keep rooms cool during particularly warm spells. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times Across much of mainland Europe, where temperatures are more extreme, there have been thousands of deaths from conditions caused or exacerbated by the heat. Wildfires, infrastructure failures, enforced closures of schools and childcare facilities, curtailment of social activities and disruption to businesses are turning the season into an endurance test. In a country like Ireland where summers are often only a lighter shade of grey than winter, the hot spell is a novelty with plenty of scope for enjoyment. But it also brings challenges, not least for the medically fragile and those who care for them. [ Western Europe records hottest June as heatwaves intensifyOpens in new window ]Research is limited here but a 2013 study found 294 deaths from heatwaves between 1981 and 2003, while a 2024 study found hospital admissions for heat-related emergencies were 8.5 per cent higher on hot days – hot categorised as 22-25 degrees. Beyond healthcare settings, other impacts are felt. Workers in general cannot ‘bunk off’ to the beach to cool down from stifling offices and factories, while regulations around welfare for both indoor and outdoor workers in high temperatures are loose and open to employer discretion. Residents of high-density housing are often without balconies or gardens for fresh air and in farming, crops wilt and livestock become vulnerable. Water supplies dwindle – Uisce Éireann has already issued a conservation warning this week – and roads and other infrastructure, built with materials and engineering standards not designed to endure prolonged heat, quickly reveal their weaknesses. “Summer ice” is now a talking point among Irish road engineers, referring to the conditions when oil and grime collects on surfaces during hot, dry spells and becomes hazardous when even a little rainfall mixes with it to create slippery film. And yet despite the costs, inconveniences and threats to health, heatwave preparedness is lacking throughout Government policy and public services. Numerous reports have made clear the need for planning for heatwaves and their consequences. The Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Health Sector 2019-2024 said a “public health heatwave plan” should be drawn up. Orlaith Hanley, Shaynah Mitchell and Lola Yore cool off in Lough Owel, Co Westmeath on Thursday. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times Concerns about the increasing likelihood of heatwaves were detailed in Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment report in 2023 and the National Climate Change Risk Assessment in 2025. The 2023 Climate Action Plan said it was necessary to “develop a new public health heatwave plan and seek to ensure more uniform system-wide planning for heatwaves”. That recommendation vanished from the 2024 and 2025 versions of the Climate Action Plan, but it is referred to again in the current Health Sector Adaption Plan for 2025-2030, published last November. “While Irish incidence of heat morbidity and mortality has been minimal to date, this is predicted to increase over the coming years and decades,” that document says. “The impacts of longer and more severe heatwaves will also extend across society, with additional impacts including the adequacy and capacity of healthcare facilities. “The roles of workplace regulations, emergency management, monitoring and warning systems and of community engagement will become more significant over the coming years and decades.” A woman has sun cream applied to her back on the beach near Carnfunnock, Co Antrim. Photograph: Mark Marlow/PA Wire On planning for these challenges, however, it says there has been “partial progress”. In Kildare last week, four county councillors sought to address the deficits in heatwave preparedness in their own local authority. The four – one Independent, one Labour member and two Fine Gael – from the Clane-Maynooth district, proposed a motion requiring officials to examine their readiness to deal with prolonged high-temperature events. They called for heatwave scenarios to be included in the Major Emergency Plan, with appropriate procedures and training devised, focusing particularly on public health, water services and vulnerable populations. They also asked for an assessment of potential “cooling shelters” such as community centres, libraries and other public buildings and air-conditioned facilities that could open their doors to allow heat-trapped residents cool down. “It is about ensuring that we understand how we would respond to a prolonged heat event, how agencies co-ordinate, what resources are available and how we protect those most at risk,” said Independent Cllr Pádraig McEvoy, one of the motion’s proposers. “Because if the experience of recent years tells us anything, it is that these events are no longer hypothetical – they are becoming part of the world we now have to plan for.” I find anything over 23 degrees hard to tolerate. It’s about what you’re used to and what you’re not used to— Dr Ina KellyThe motion was passed and the council officials were receptive to the proposal. In a formal response prepared for the elected members, senior official Joe Boland said: “It is accepted that the issues involved can be complex and that, as suggested in the motion, there would be substantial benefit in additional training, scenario planning as well as ongoing reassessment of resources, expertise and operational capacity.“In this context, the council is currently reviewing elements of its severe weather plan which relates to ‘prolonged periods of extreme high temperatures’ and will consider these aspects in more detail.” McEvoy said the response was welcome but not sufficiently comprehensive, lacking a commitment to making immediate arrangements such as carrying out an inventory of potential cooling centres. “This is the most significant omission – the motion’s most practical ask is not addressed,” he said. In other countries and particularly in cities, cooling centres or climate shelters are commonplace. Barcelona, for example, has 500, including libraries, museums, shopping malls, sports facilities and well-shaded parks and playgrounds, that it advertises widely. The shelter network also includes “microrefugis” – shops, pharmacies and other small businesses that sign up to say anyone struggling with the heat can come in and cool down until arrangements can be made to get them to a bigger shelter. People cooling off by the sea in Dublin earlier this week. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times All the shelters carry a recognised symbol and have seats or benches where people can just sit, along with plentiful, free water. Kelly lived in Perth, Australia for a time and got into the habit of taking off to the air-conditioned shopping mall when her home became uncomfortably warm. This wasn’t necessarily during heatwaves but at times when she realised she was perhaps made for cooler lands. “I find anything over 23 degrees hard to tolerate. It’s about what you’re used to and what you’re not used to,” she says. The World Health Organisation (WHO) takes the same broad view. “A heatwave is a period where local excess heat accumulates over a sequence of unusually hot days and nights,” its guidance says. What’s unusual in one country may be an everyday occurrence in another, so temperature figures alone don’t tell the full story. Hospitals are not recording where heat has exacerbated an illness or is a contributing cause to an incident— Dr Ina Kelly Ireland officially declares a heatwave after five days of temperatures hitting 25 degrees. Australia is too large for a single definition. As their Bureau of Meteorology puts it: “The same temperature feels different to residents of Darwin (in the notoriously hot Northern Territory) and Hobart (in Tasmania which has a predominantly damp, cool climate). “A 37-degree day feels hotter to people in Hobart since they’re used to cooler temperatures.” They use an “excess heat factor” (EHF) when describing heatwaves. “In simple terms, the EHF measures how much of a shock to the body the forecast temperatures will be, compared to the weather over the past month,” they say. So what happens if there is a body shock in Ireland? Kelly visualises the average shopping centre as a refuge from the heat and says it would need some adjustment, the majority not being keen on having people sit around for hours unless they’re in a cafe and paying for the privilege. “It could work if all the shopping centres signed up so you don’t end up with everybody going to a few. The Government could pay them something for seating and to supply water. It wouldn’t suit everyone but it would help some. It’s a simple idea – it would just need co-ordination.” The Government has put some thought into a version of climate shelters. After Storm Éowyn brought record-breaking winds in January 2025, leaving tens of thousands of people without power, water, heat and communications for days, the decision was made to designate emergency hubs, or community support centres, for people to have warmth, food, sanitation and charging points in case of future extreme storms or the severe flooding that has become more frequent. Hundreds of schools, community centres and sports clubs had acted as ad hoc hubs after the storm but under the new arrangement, venues would be assessed to ensure they had the necessary equipment, off-grid generators, good accessibility, first-aid kits and secure water supplies before being formally designated. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning could not provide a list of them, saying each local authority maintained their own list of those within their own county. A search of local-authority websites, however, shows those lists are hard to find or not locatable at all. The Department issued a “framework” document last December setting out the requirements for community support centres. It did not mention heatwaves as occasions when they might be called on to open their doors and there is no suggestion that they be assessed for suitability as cooling shelters. Members of Poolbeg Sailing Club's summer camp on the River Liffey beside the Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times When asked if any such assessment would now be carried out – or if there are plans to find other suitable buildings to serve as cooling centres – the department responded: “The Framework – and the potential supports that could be offered by Community Support Centres – is continually under review.”Another outcome of the review that followed Storm Éowyn was a plan to improve emergency and extreme-weather preparedness at household level. Every home was to be issued with a booklet containing practical advice for dealing with challenging events and a checklist to help them focus on essential tasks and supplies. In January, the Department of Defence said the booklet would be issued in the coming weeks. It has not appeared yet. Asked if the advice covered heatwaves or was being amended to include heatwaves, that Department said the Government had an existing “Be Summer Ready” campaign and the Department was developing a “household resilience campaign” that would complement this. “The Department is working to ensure the messaging and materials are clear, practical and useful for the public,” it said. “Work is ongoing in this regard and the Department will provide further updates in due course.” Be Summer Ready is mainly an online resource with a strong focus on being prepared for conditions while travelling abroad and while there is some advice on first aid for heat stress, it comes under the heading of “People with disabilities”, while advice on keeping rooms cool is under “Early learning, schools and workplaces” rather than homes where people spend most of their time. A list of emergency-service contacts is mainly a list of out-of-hours customer-service numbers and websites for utilities, transport services and councils. Ideally, people’s homes would be the only refuge they need in a heatwave but the evidence so far from France – which keeps a close eye on this issue after a lethal August heatwave in 2003 – is that most of the deaths have been among older people in their own homes. The push for more energy-efficient homes here has put an emphasis on heat retention rather than cooling, while the increase in apartments and high-density housing has reduced access to outside space. I think people think they live in a t in reality it’s a dynamically changing risk environment— Dr Ina Kelly Proposed new apartment guidelines, intended to cut construction costs, would allow apartment blocks to have fewer balconies and fewer dual-aspect units – apartments with windows on two sides – to allow fresh air flow through. An ongoing legal challenge by a group of councillors, including McEvoy, to the guidelines raises concerns about overheating in such dwellings. Dr Julie Clarke of the School of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin is working with colleagues on a study of heat risk in buildings, which is due for publication later this year. She says the issue is becoming of more widespread concern. “It has cropped up through conversations with local authorities, the Land Development Agency and other building owners,” she said. “Many people are asking the question: is Ireland prepared for the increase in extreme heat events in the future and what do we need to do to increase resilience? But there is little being done to answer the question.” It is telling that even Dermot Bannon, the TV architect whose passion for giant windows and glass-box extensions has become his hallmark, was recently asked to address the issue on a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland podcast. He acknowledged that big windows can make a house too hot and talked about the importance of shading, especially if the glass is south-facing. Shading is not the same as blinds, he cautioned. “Many people have blinds on their south-facing windows which can trap the heat inside. It’s preferable to stop the heat before it gets in,” he said. TV architect Dermot Bannon recently acknowledged that big windows can make a house too hot. File photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Canopies with a deep overhang worked better, he said. Positioning windows in an east-west direction would be better again. The Department of Housing says there is technical guidance in the national building regulations around assessing overheating in dwellings. But it comes from the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers in the UK and falls short of official regulation. The Department said: “The Department is preparing a further report assessing overheating risk in dwellings under future climate change conditions using more extreme future weather files.” It did not provide a timeline for publication of this report. Buildings are not the only infrastructure challenged by heatwaves. At Irish Rail, while the main concerns to date have been storms and floods, high temperature effects are also closely monitored. Its climate-change adaption strategy warns of thermal expansion – when metal rails warp and buckle after expanding in the heat. Also, it says overhead line equipment can sag in extreme heat, while drought can cause soil shrinkage and subsidence, undermining tracks. It’s so far, so good this summer, says Irish Rail’s head of communications, Barry Kenny. “In terms of track, we have remote monitoring at 48 locations to gauge the temperature of the rail head, which would inform any measures such as temporary speed restrictions which may be required. “There’s been none required to date either in the current warm spell or from a couple of weeks back. “But we will also defer some standard overnight track maintenance works if temperatures approach very high levels, just to ensure stability.” Remote monitoring of temperatures in relay and generator rooms also helps head off any issues with signalling and electrical equipment. The main concern so far has been passenger comfort, particularly with some services seeing a huge surge in numbers heading for seaside towns. “We liaise with gardaí on this, effectively managing it as if it were a concert or festival event and ensuring we have the necessary capacity and crowd-management measures in place,” Kenny says.That’s the fun side of a hot summer in Ireland but Irish Doctors for the Environment (IDE) says we have to get serious too. The group of concerned health professionals is currently contacting their colleagues in emergency medicine to try to gather data on how the heatwave is affecting hospital admissions. The HSE, when asked if it had any data, replied that it did not and recommended asking individual emergency departments. IDE has been campaigning for proper tracking of heat-related illness, better early-warning systems and warnings that take into account not just outdoor temperatures but living conditions including the type of housing people have and whether they have shading, air conditioning or underlying medical conditions. “The recent unprecedented heatwave in Europe shows us the new reality we have entered,” said Dr Callum Swift, an emergency medicine doctor and IDE member. “More heat-related illness, greater surges in urgent and emergency-care demand, and health systems whose buildings, equipment and digital infrastructure were not designed for the temperatures they’re now being asked to withstand.” The Climate Change Advisory Council has recommended to Government that climate-impacts registers be established, an idea Dr Ina Kelly firmly backs. “Hospitals are not recording where heat has exacerbated an illness or is a contributing cause to an incident,” she says. “They might record sunburn, heat exhaustion and heat stroke but not heat-related exacerbation of heart disease. “They don’t record cascading events such as the food poisoning that happened because food went off in the heat. The poisoning is recorded – the contribution of heat isn’t. “The drowning because people jump into unguarded waters is recorded as a drowning – the fact that they were trying to get out of the heat isn’t. “Dehydration might be noted but not the heat that caused it. It’s important to know the epidemiology of heatwaves in all its impacts. “I think people think they live in a stable environment but in reality it’s a dynamically changing risk environment. “We have existing vulnerabilities and they are going to get worse with climate change.”