Dr John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth has warned that temperatures in Ireland over the past two decades have risen by 0.3 degrees compared with an international average of 0.25.

Sweeney warns that rising sea levels will greatly increase flooding in Ireland, especially on the east coast, which will suffer from higher rates of erosion.

According to Sweeney, the "tipping point" . . . the threshold level beyond which it is no longer possible to recover from the effects of global warming . . . will be reached within 50 years.

"It is very difficult to see us not reaching the tipping point by the middle of this century, " said Sweeney. "Even if we were to stop emissions completely right now, we could not stop the process."

This will place the ice caps under significant pressure and will cause sea levels to rise by at least half a metre by the end of the century.

"This rise won't flood cities on a constant basis but it will have a significant impact on our coastline, " Sweeney said.

"The sea will continue to rise as the icecaps further melt, which will eventually push the sea up by up to seven metres. But that is hundreds of years away."

Leading French expert Dr Bruno Comby has warned that sea levels may rise by anything up to one metre by the end of the century. Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Comby claimed that the point of no return has already been reached.

"We are going to start seeing major problems by the end of this century, " he warned.

"Countries such as Holland will struggle to cope with even a small rise in sea levels.

How much the water does rise by, we do not yet know.

The only thing that is certain is that global warming is man-made and we can no longer halt it."

Earlier this month, Professor James Lovelock, one of Britain's best-known scientists, claimed that global warming had reached such a level that billions of people may die by the end of the current century.

"Before this century is over, billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable, " he warned.

DRIEST JANUARY FOR YEARS

ONLY 40% of the usual amount of rain fell across Ireland in January, while just 28% of the usual amount of rainfall was recorded at Baldonnel weather station in Dublin. According to Met Eireann, last month was the driest January for between six to nine years, and the driest since 1992 at Cork Airport.

South Leinster and much of Munster experienced the mildest conditions with a temperature of over 130C recorded at Cork Airport on 18 January.

Less rainfall and an increase in temperature was the "stand-out statistic" for the month, according to Met Eireann.

"We had a lot of high pressure over Europe and for much of the month we were at the edge of it, " Sarah O'Reilly, a Met Eireann meteorologist, told the Sunday Tribune.

"When we tend to have weather coming in from the north Atlantic moving from the west, that's wetter and windier."

There was less cloud across the country in January, leading to an average increase in brightness of 10%.

But January's dry conditions may be on the way out this month. Although the next few days will be quite settled, there is an increasing chance of rain on Tuesday night, and as the high pressure moves away, it will gradually become more unsettled towards the end of the week, and from then on.

Una Mullally