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'We burn particularly easily': How to keep yourself, your family and your pets safe in the heat

Temperatures are set to remain in the high 20s this week.

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.

“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.

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.

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    Mute RogerRamjet
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    Jul 10th 2021, 8:33 AM

    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.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Jul 10th 2021, 9:13 AM

    @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.

    49
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    Mute Charliegrl80
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    Jul 10th 2021, 9:56 AM

    @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!

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    Mute M Bowe
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    Jul 10th 2021, 10:04 AM

    @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.

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    Mute RogerRamjet
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    Jul 10th 2021, 10:22 AM

    @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.

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    Mute Charliegrl80
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    Jul 10th 2021, 4:43 PM

    @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!

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    Mute Bleurgh
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    Jul 10th 2021, 8:02 AM

    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???

    44
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    Mute Daniel Murray
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    Jul 10th 2021, 9:29 AM

    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?

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    Mute Ilarion Cibu
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    Jul 10th 2021, 9:37 AM

    @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.

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Jul 10th 2021, 9:31 AM

    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

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    Mute Kenneth O' Connor
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    Jul 10th 2021, 8:11 AM

    Excellent piece Conal!!!

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    Mute Goran Josifov
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    Jul 10th 2021, 10:59 AM

    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).

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    Mute Den Sullivan
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    Jul 10th 2021, 12:38 PM

    If you put government in charge of the supply your bread you will soon want for bread. It’s nature of the beast

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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Jul 10th 2021, 11:45 PM

    Fianna Fail: 4.9% of the electorate want them in power but they are still “in power”!

    The only way to put citizens in power and in control of Housing for the benefit of citizens and not “others” is a Referendum.

    https://www.change.org/p/irish-referendum-on-family-home-special-status

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    Mute Oisin O'Connell
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    Jul 17th 2021, 2:51 PM

    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

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