A Galway store owner explains the toll flooding has taken on his business over the years, while others express their fears for the future in a new documentary airing this week.
With storms and extreme events increasing year after year due to climate change and environmental degradation, Tuilte on TG4 examines the human cost that accompanies these events.
Niall McNelis’ jewellery shop sits just beside the Spanish Arch in Galway City. In twenty-one years of business, his shop has been badly flooded six times, damaging the property and stock each time.
Niall expresses the toll that dealing with the flooding and these losses has taken on his mental health in recent years.
We also meet with local artist RÃonach Nà Néill who reveals her fears for the future, and chat with Micheál Ó Cinnéide a co-founder of Corrib Beo Partnership, Galway, a voluntary group which promotes the sustainable development of the Corrib catchment.
Tuilte, an hour-long documentary airs on TG4 at 9:30pm this Wednesday, February 21.
The documentary explores the reality of flooding and climate change through the lens of the affected communities.
It showcases volunteers who are active in flooding mitigation efforts and experts who share climate change projections and the best methods for combatting increased flooding and sea level rise.
This includes what actions we can each take to make a difference in our own area.
Along the way, we meet locals in Donegal who suffered serious damage in the storms of August 2017, and communities that are trying sustainable practices to mitigate the effects of flooding and to better manage water.
We meet with Trish Murphy and the Inishowen Trust who are leading the way on the island with innovative nature-based solutions to ‘Slow the Flow’.
We look at the importance of flood plain management in Monaghan, as we speak with Ballybay GAA members who fear for the future of their clubhouse and pitch.
In Belfast, in the West of the city, maverick environmentalist Aaron Kelly is on a mission to rewild the Black Mountain, providing a tree canopy for wildlife which will also soak up rain during heavy rainfall.
In the south of the city, we chat with the Department for Infrastructure about its new multi-million-pound flood alleviation scheme.
In Ireland, one of the greatest threats is to coastal and low-lying regions from sea level rise, together with increased rainfall and storm events.
40% of the population lives within 5 km of the coast, and it is estimated that 70,000 Irish addresses are at risk of coastal flooding by 2050.
Tuilte was made for TG4 by Dearcán Media with support from the Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
