Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
IT WAS A bit of a mixed summer weather-wise up until the end of last week, when the hottest temperature of the year was recorded on Friday, then again on Saturday.
And the good spell is set to continue: on Saturday night, Met Éireann issued a High Temperature Advisory, which is in place until midday on Friday.
Temperatures are forecast to remain in the high 20s until then, with the possibility that the mercury will reach the 30s in some places.
But high temperatures also mean a good deal of sun, which comes with its own health warning, as do other attempts we might have to cool off.
Kevin O’Hagan, Cancer Prevention Manager at Irish Cancer Society, has warned of the dangers that come with sunburn on weeks like this.
“Getting burnt just once every two years can triple your risk of melanoma skin cancer,” he explains.
“Here in Ireland about 75% of the population has very fair skin, which means that we burn particularly easily. We are particularly vulnerable to UV damage and skin cancer, we really need to protect our skin.”
Roger Sweeney of Irish Water Safety also points out the dangers that are involved as people flock to beaches, lakes and rivers to cool off.
“76 people drowned in Ireland last year and although that’s the lowest since 1936, we should be mindful that the risk of drowning is particularly high at present,” he said.
“People can be lulled into a false sense of security by the picture-postcard scenes we have at our waterways during really warm weather.”
Here’s what you can do to stay safe and enjoy the good weather without too many worries this week.
Skincare
If you’re going to be out in the sun, break out the factor 50.
With the sun out in full force, applying sunscreen to protect your skin has never been more important.
Make sure you reapply your sunscreen throughout the day to ensure you prevent sunburn. And ensure the sunscreen you use has high UVA and UVB protection.
Advertisement
“We always advise people to put it on at least 20 minutes before going out and use an SPF of at least 30+ for adults, and 50+ for children,” O’Hagan said.
It’s also important to remember that no sunscreen can provide 100% protection and should be used alongside other protective measures such as staying in the shade.
When outside, seek the shade and ensure you find a shady area when spending prolonged periods of time outdoors – this can help to prevent you from becoming overwhelmed with the heat and will also protect your skin.
In particular, try to stay in the shade between the hours of 11am to 3pm, which is when the sun’s UV rays are at their strongest.
Wearing a hat can also protect your face, neck and ears from the worst of the sun, while choosing clothes that are made of a close woven material will offer good UV protection for your skin.
And don’t forget your eyes either: wear sunglasses to prevent the sun’s rays from damaging them where possible. Short-term UV exposure to the eyes can cause mild irritation and burning to the part of the eye known as the cornea.
Water safety
When you’re choosing a spot, swim at lifeguarded waterways and know where the lifeguard flags are and what they mean.
No lifeguard flag means that there is no lifeguard on duty. A red flag means that a lifeguard is on duty, but has deemed conditions to be too unsafe to swim.
The red and yellow flags mean a lifeguard is on duty and the lifeguard is patrolling between those flags. Ensure you swim between the flags and stay within your depth.
If you’re going for a dip in the sea, beware of rip currents, which can be difficult to spot but which can take you away from the shore and be fatal.
If you get caught in one, never swim against the current: swim parallel to the shore until you leave the rip-tide, then swim towards shore.
If you’re unable to swim out of a rip current, float or calmly tread water. If you are still unable to reach shore, draw attention to yourself: face the shore, wave your arms, and yell for help.
Don’t use inflatable toys in open water.
If you’re getting out on the water in a boat, wear a lifejacket. Likewise, always wear a lifejacket when paddle boarding or angling, and make sure it has a correctly fitting crotch strap.
Check local tides, currents and weather forecast before going out, and tell someone about your plans. Ensure you have a means of communication such as a mobile phone or a handheld VHF radio in a waterproof container.
Related Reads
Status Yellow and Status Orange high temperature warnings take effect across Ireland
Never mix alcohol with water activities. Even though pubs have yet to fully reopen, do not be tempted to drink near, on or around water. Alcohol is a factor in one third of drownings.
General advice
Wherever you’re out and about, make sure you drink plenty of water.
High temperatures mean our body is going to be sweating more to cool us down. Replacing these fluids throughout the day and staying hydrated will help regulate your body temperature.
If you are going to be doing physical activity outdoors, ensure that you bring water with you.
And remember that pets need help in the heat too. Animals are vulnerable to heat stroke when exposed to high temperatures for extended periods of time.
Do not leave your dog in the car, and try to take them out for walks at cooler times of the day such as the morning or evening.
If you take your pet out during the hot temperatures, ensure you bring water for them.
Remember that hot weather can also cause heat stroke and aggravate pre-existing health conditions in people.
Groups who are particularly at risk during warm weather are children, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.
Symptoms to watch out for during heat waves include feeling faint or dizzy, vomiting, shortness of breath or increasing confusion.
Dr Noirín O’Herlihy, Assistant Medical Director of the Irish College of General Practitioners noted that children are particularly vulnerable to heat stroke.
She emphasised the importance of ensuring that children were not left in cars “even if the windows or doors are open as temperatures rise quite quickly”.
If you do get sunburned, cool down the area as soon as possible keeping it moisturised. And don’t go out in the sun the following day. If the sunburn is over a large area of the skin you, may need to speak to your doctor.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
14 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Affordable housing!?! How about helping those who can work and do work to buy a house at an affordable level first instead of perpetuating the entitlement attitude of many to a house without doing any of the work or contributing to greater society.
@RogerRamjet: FG/FF’s efforts at fixing the housing crisis has ended up as the unmitigated mess as outlined in the report above. Millions wasted on creating and maintaining the mess also.
@RogerRamjet: We have a housing crisis in this Country and blaming people on lower income isn’t the answer! In the Tipperary area where I live if you earn less than €25,000 as a couple you are eligible to apply for social housing, in the cities the limit is a little more it would be between €31,000 to €35,000 to apply for social housing if you are in one of the lower paid Jobs or on a social welfare payment you would qualify, NO BANK is going to give you a mortgage on that income. However, at the moment there is NO SOCIAL HOUSING being built and the local government through the Government is housing many of these families in private rental units which in turn leaves no rental units for others to rent and this keeps the cost of rental units in the state extremely high. If someone can get a mortgage and we had affordable housing in the Country fair play to them but please don’t blame people on a lower income from stopping anyone from buying a house and look at where the actual problem is its our government allowing investment funds to bulk buy all of housing so your affordable house is now in their hands and they will not sell but rent them back to you and at crazy prices. I am a full time family carer working 24/7 contributing to the state by and on a so called welfare payment of €219 per week who is going to give me a mortgage? there’s only a tiny fraction of people on welfare that don’t contribute for what ever reason. I can assure you the welfare system just don’t hand you a payment without dragging you through the coals first so if you do get a payment that would mean you qualified for it!
@RogerRamjet: yeah let’s all tackle those in need of housing rather than tackle the cause of the problems in housing. FFG policy and support of vulture/ cuckoo funds and developers over citizens needs.
@Charliegrl80: where am I blaming people on lower income? You can work and do, I’ve no issue with you getting access to housing. It’s the people who get handouts including housing and have no intention of doing an honest days work (but are well capable of doing it) or contributing to society I’m talking about.
@RogerRamjet: There are many different kinds of welfare allowance in Ireland from the state pension down to jobseekers including the many people that lost jobs and some lost their homes during the down turn that are now aged out of employment and through no fault of their own have to stay on one of the most degrading payments in the state “jobseekers” if they take two weeks work they are cut off that payment and will go through hell to get it back. Yes there are a few people that don’t work but it’s a very tiny fraction of people claiming welfare and these people should be helped back on their feet by education and somebody actually giving a dam you see many of these people outside the court houses of this country every week for mainly drug related issues. Until this country tackles our massive drug problem these issues will never go away as they go hand in hand. Please do not blame people down on their luck because of circumstances in their lives and put the blame where is needs to be and that’s the housing crisis created by greed and the policies of the current and past governments as they are continually selling the family silver!
Can someone give the exact number of houses that were bought under REITS/bulk buy/cookoo funds in last few years? As in a percentage of houses bought???
Can someone far more informed than me on this matter explain why we can’t temporarily ban bulk buying of houses entirely during a housing crisis? Make it mandatory that you can only own one or max two houses? Maybe that violates EU or WTO agreements? The government seems perfectly content to get fined for breaking emissions targets by completely failing on climate change and isn’t out VRT straight up illegal?
@Daniel Murray: government is being fined by EU for breaking violations with our huge money making scam – VRT.
But they make far,far more from VRT than the EU fines us.
Greed and high cost of living in this small little sod run by self serving goombeen men in suits ,remove these three ! problem solved and therefore it will never be solved it’s our culture now
So many different institutions and bodies to deal with the housing crisis, but house prices continue to rise and are getting more and more unaffordable. One could come to the conclusion that the goal of all those bodies (quite a few created in the last several years) isn’t to tackle housing crisis or make houses more affordable, despite what is publicly declared, but quite the opposite. As if they’re there to put the veil over people’s eyes that they’re doing something, but in reality the measures they’re bringing forth do not give the desired outcome. So something is more than just rotten in the spiderly interconnected housing industry (government, city councils, developers, different type of funds mentioned in the article, emergency accommodation providers, homelessness etc).
The article misses the Bank influence and mortgages in low supply and demand; if supply of housing too low prices of property are set by the Banks and both the duration of mortgages and max amount they will pay out; USA even worse re duration eg 90 yr second geberation mortgages; the benefit in USA is bank takes responsibility so if you decide you cannot pay your mortgage you can return the house keys to banks and its their problem not yours; so ling as bank gives out outrageous mortgages and longer durations and vultures funds own properties to let then Ireland is fubbered
'The place is not functioning properly': Committees not back to work 3 months after election
Jane Matthews
1 hr ago
1.2k
17
Press Freedom
White House to 'decide’ which news outlets cover Trump, in a break with a century of tradition
2 hrs ago
6.7k
86
Rosslare
Man arrested after woman dies following 'serious incident' aboard ferry at Rosslare
Updated
3 hrs ago
89.1k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say