It's here. All over Ireland the effects can already be seen.

In the last decade alone, we've had intense flooding, dangerous landslides and drought.

Our 'soft Irish rain' is being replaced by heavier, more tropical downpours.

Our winters are getting wetter. Our summers are hotter and drier. Snow is almost a thing of the past.

The soft rock on our coast is being slowly, inexorably, swallowed by the sea. The country's largest cities are in danger of being covered in water.

Our crops are changing.

Our plants are changing.

Our animals are changing.

The evidence is everywhere.

Today, and over the next two Sundays, we will examine how climate change has already impacted on Ireland's life and landscape.

We will look at what we can expect from the future, in terms of coastal erosion and flooding, increasingly extreme weather conditions and changes to marine, plant and animal life.

And we will ask if it's already too late to prevent climate change from having an irreversible, catastrophic effect on the world as we know it today.