The 'Status of Ireland's Climate' report makes stark reading for the country's coastal communities.
Published by the EPA, Met Éireann and the Marine Institute today, it highlights four major changes that have taken place in the country's oceans.
These include findings that sea levels around Ireland are rising at a rate of up to 3mm a year, that the water temperature is rising, that ocean acidity is on the increase, and that sea waves are over a metre higher than they were 50 years ago.
Dr Ned Dwyer, of UCC, who co-authored the report said the rise in sea levels is having an effect on coastal communities and coastal infrastructure.
"We are also seeing more of these intense storms hitting our shores which are causing damage and potential loss of life. The changes I outlined in the ocean itself such as the temperature and acidification, that's leading to changes in the distribution and health of marine organisms.
"A lot of people can see from an everyday living point of view what is happening in terms of coastal erosion, in terms of increased flooding in coastal towns and cities, as well as those who work in the ocean for a living, they are seeing changes in fisheries, in shellfish.
"This information is making it very plain that these changes are taking place and that we need to act now if we are to manage those changes because it is adapting, and working out how we are going to live in this new reality, is what ourselves as individuals but also local authorities and governments have to work out."
Coastal communities like Gyleen in east Cork know first hand the destruction caused by coastal erosion.
The pathway outside Kay Archdeacon's home overlooking the sea was once a road big enough to accommodate a lorry. Now it is just a narrow grassy pathway.
Her home and that of her neighbours were secured by structural works a decade ago but now coastal erosion threatens an access road bringing water to the village.
Today's findings come as no surprise to Kay.
"The waves have got higher, more water. Everyday, I walk the beach in the winter there is another piece of the cliff has fallen in."
For those who make their living from the sea, today's report is also concerning.
Tristan Hugh-Jones and his family grow oysters at Rossmore in Cork Harbour. They have one of the biggest native oyster operations in Europe with some 22 ponds breeding oysters and 13 kilometres of trestles in the sea for young oysters.
"It's a definite concern. Every pond is unique in its little ecosystem now. We've definitely seen changes. Changes are afoot definitely. We are just trying to react to them.
