Last week ushered in a new era of emergency readiness in Ireland in three strange ways. Irish supermarkets were the latest targets of hackers disrupting shop fridges. Aer Lingus and Ryanair planes were affected by hoax bomb threats. Last Friday, several media organisations were evacuated due to more hoax bomb threats. When viewed as part of a pattern of hybrid warfare – and piggybacking opportunists – across Europe, this is not the start of something. We are already in it.

The point of all of this is to generate a strange unmoored feeling. It is to cause confusion, panic, suspicion and an atmosphere where conspiracy and accusations flourish. The point is to signal: we know your weak spots. It is to destabilise.

Now add this to other aspects of upheaval and disruption we are already experiencing. One of these is more extreme weather due to human-made climate change, for which communities need to be more prepared. Transport infrastructure needs to be better designed to keep running. Flood defences need to become more effective, and the least expensive option for that is nature-based solutions. Wildfires are more likely to spread in hotter weather, and one way of mitigating that may be more broadleaf forests instead of Sitka plantation.

Then there is disruption in the form of all kinds of protests. Ireland experienced this during the fuel blockades, which shut down key transport routes, a large part of Dublin’s city centre,........

© The Irish Times