Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People living in that lane will not find it funny. A previous Minister, Noel Dempsey, provided money to put in a new bridge there. However, there is a culvert underneath and some preventative maintenance would have alleviated the flooding. The Government needs to re-examine cutbacks, or what is called natural wastage, because outdoor staff numbers are dwindling. The Minister and I have talked about this privately as well as in the Chamber, but I am asking him again to re-examine the matter.

Outdoor staff are necessary to assist engineers in carrying out preventative maintenance, thus saving money in the long term. This is what we need to be doing. Many of our culverts and draining systems need only minor maintenance on a fortnightly or monthly basis. The amount of money needed in respect of maintenance would be minuscule in comparison with the amount required to repair damages when areas are flooded.

As evidenced by some of the reports in the aftermath of the damage caused during the past month or so planning and other measures are not adequate to deal with this issue and additional contingency measures are required. There are many areas off the west coast where local people had identified potential danger from the sea when tides became high, particularly where coastal erosion had brought the sea close to some houses. Deputy Dooley referred earlier to one situation in which the sea flooded the back garden of a house. In some instances, people were prevented from building walls or other defences that would have lessened the impact of the storms. In light of all of these factors, the planning authorities need to update their assessment procedures.

Another issue is that many of the houses built here over the past 15 years were built on flood plains. I accept that many Irish towns, because they are built on rivers, are built on flood plains. However, it is important we ensure that houses or housing estates are not built on flood plains which could leave them vulnerable to future flooding during extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent. It can be argued that developers could not have foreseen that the weather would disimprove but that does not exonerate them or the planning authorities, who should have carried out a more detailed examination of some of the sites, thereby preventing some of the flooding that occurred. Also, many of the people living in such estates are being denied insurance. Stricter guidelines need to be enforced to ensure that developments in areas prone to future flooding are not given the go ahead. They are issues relating to planning.

In terms of prevention, the severe-extreme weather conditions of the past decade undermine those who dismiss the notion that the planet is experiencing climate change and that measures need to be taken to ameliorate that change. While this country has been relatively fortunate in escaping some of the more severe consequences of climate change, as witnessed over the past week or so, the United States experienced historically low temperatures and temperatures in southern Australia are currently extremely high. All of this impacts on the globe and places an urgency on the Government and Members of this House to proceed with the much promised Climate Change Bill. That Bill must be progressed in the New Year. While Ireland is only a small country, it must play its part and reduce its emissions. It must also lead by example. To date, all we have seen are the heads of the Bill and no commitment to proceed to drafting the Bill for debate and legislation. I would like once again to use this opportunity to ask when it is proposed to proceed with this legislation as promised in the programme for Government. I suspect that the main reason for failing to bring forward legislation is that the Government is reluctant to commit itself to attaining set targets.

The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, has in relation to the proposal to export electricity from wind farms in the midlands assured us that the State will still attain its target of 40% generation of electricity from renewable energies by 2020. However, current levels of electricity generated from renewables are behind what it should be, which begs the question as to how the target will be reached while electricity generated by wind continues to be exported on such a vast scale, particularly the electricity supposed to be generated in the midlands. Surely the target ought to be to ensure that this country is self-sufficient in electricity generated from renewables before we set about meeting massive export targets, let alone EU targets. The irony of all that is that while we will be assisting Britain to reach its targets, we will continue to be massively dependent on imported fossil fuels to generate the bulk of our domestic electricity demand. It is clear that this Government is reluctant to commit itself to targets in the Climate Change Bill that would help address some of the factors which contribute to extreme weather conditions.

I hope that assistance is made available as quickly as possible to address the damage caused by the recent storms and that local funding is restored to ensure there is a greater level of preparation for any future events caused by extreme weather conditions, which unfortunately are happening more often. During my lifetime I have seen huge changes in the weather patterns. I hope Members will play their part in addressing this issue. We must start by addressing the property and infrastructural damage caused by the recent storms. People vulnerable to the ravages of the sea are worried and frightened.

Often, solutions are expensive and complicated. However, they are also often relatively simple and involve smallscale works. I am sure the Minister will be bringing forth a local government Bill later this term, which I look forward to. It is important that in the context of that Bill we ensure local authorities are well staffed into the future, in particular with front-line staff. There has been huge shrinkage in the number of outdoor staff in our local authorities.

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