O'Gorman: Government must clarify if it is recording heat-related climate deaths in Ireland

Green Party responds to today’s Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change which shows a 23% rise in heat-related deaths since 1990s due to climate change

Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman TD has called on the Department of Health and the HSE to clarify if it is recording the number of people who pass away due to heat-related climate deaths in Ireland.  

He was speaking as today the Lancet published its Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change, examining the impact that climate change is having on human health across the planet.

“Climate change is altering our weather patterns. It is making our summers hotter, which has significant impacts for people with vulnerable or pre-existing health conditions. Hotter nights mean peoples sleep is disturbed. High temperatures outside mean that people can’t exercise”, stated O’Gorman.

“The Lancet estimate that over half a million people have died every year between 2012 and 2021 due to excess heat. That is a shocking figure, and we need to understand what that means in Ireland”.

“In July of this year, I put in a Dail question to the Minister for Health, asking firstly if the HSE collect statistics on the number of heat-wave related deaths per year and secondly, to provide any such statistics from 2010 to 2024. Three months later and I’m still waiting to hear back from the HSE”.

“If you can’t measure something, you can’t manage it. How can we understand how we can reduce climate change related heat deaths in Ireland, if Government isn’t producting clear statistics? The Minister for Health needs to direct the HSE to produce these statistics on an annual basis, so we can work to protect vulnerable people in Ireland from even bigger impacts on their health”, concluded O’Gorman.