Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that it is very challenging for the State to have to deal with so many problems coming from so many directions as a consequence of the recent adverse weather. Most Deputies have spoken about problems in their area and I am obliged to report that Wexford was not spared. Coastal erosion is an issue that requires greater investment by the State. On Bannow Island, which is very close to my own home, the bank has given way and the sea has made significant progress onto the road. That problem will have to be fixed and the longer it is left the more it will cost. I realise that fixing all the problems throughout the State at once is impossible, but the sooner we get to grips with them the better.

An issue I have not heard mentioned in the course of the debate is the problems being experienced by lobster and crab fishermen. These are small operators who do inshore work and cannot afford to go out past the 5-mile mark. Many of their pots have been damaged beyond repair. In fact, some of them have lost up to 80% of their pots. It is impossible for these fishermen to obtain insurance against this type of damage because no company is interested in providing it. Lobsters are generally caught in the summer, while the crab season goes from August to November. Most years the fishermen take in the pots when there is potential for storm damage in the off season. This year, however, many of the fishermen, in the Kilmore area in particular, have been out searching for the body of a missing colleague, Paddy Barry, and did not get around to bringing in the pots. They are now in a very unfortunate position. When I asked some of those who contacted me how the State might be able to determine which pots were damaged, they replied that the only way to get around that is for them to retain the damaged pots to show what was done.

Last Tuesday's edition of The Guardian included an article on inland flooding by George Monbiot. He describes the nub of the problem, which applies in Ireland as much as in Britain, as follows:

[T]here is an unbreakable rule laid down by the common agricultural policy. If you want to receive your single farm payment – by far the biggest component of farm subsidies – that land has to be free from what it calls "unwanted vegetation". Land covered by trees is not eligible. The subsidy rules have enforced the mass clearance of vegetation from the hills. Just as the tree-planting grants have stopped, the land-clearing grants have risen.

One of the reasons we are seeing so much flooding is that we do not have enough trees. This is because land that is under trees is ten times better than cleared land at taking and holding water. That is a major issue.

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