Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue. Given what has happened in recent weeks when flooding has again got the public's attention the quick solution is normally to look at coastal areas. Unfortunately, however, we have major problems inland as well. I know the Minister of State is familiar with the River Boyne in his area which was successfully drained in the 1950s and 1960s under the Arterial Drainage Act 1945, as was the Moy river. A colleague of mine asked me this morning, when I told him I was bringing this issue before the House, to ensure to ask the Minister of State whether the River Moy and the River Boyne would be drained today. To be fair, probably not, because of the impediments in place at the moment for arterial drainage. These include restrictions on removing debris from rivers because of the habitats directive and a variety of things which make it virtually impossible for landowners, local authorities or the Office of Public Works to deal with the issue effectively.

We need to have a national conversation about what we expect from arterial drainage. In 2008 the village of Athea in my area flooded on the same night as Newcastle West. It was clear to everyone that when the village of Athea flooded, the eyes of the bridge over the River Gale in the middle of the village were blocked and full of debris, gravel and so on. The local authority was prevented from taking the material out to ease the flow of water. The reason it was prevented was because the area was a habitat. We should ask ourselves what type of habitat are we going to try to protect in future. Are we to protect the habitats of wildlife, which, I agree, need to be protected? However, there is a hierarchy of protection at issue and first on the list of hierarchy must be human life followed by private property. It is clear this is not happening in some instances.

There are competing agencies throughout the country. There is no worse example of this than the management of the River Shannon, something of which the Minister of State will be aware. From Cavan to Limerick a multiplicity of agencies have made it virtually impossible for anything to be done with the river and the rivers and streams draining into it. If we have learned anything in recent weeks, when people's private property has been destroyed, it is that we need to examine this issue in a far more succinct way.

I wish to put some proposals to the Minister of State in this regard. In the context of the new rural development programme announced recently by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, there is an opportunity under agri-environmental schemes that he is introducing to allow local communities and landowners to make changes. The schemes could incentivise landowners through initiatives such as the rural environment protection scheme and the agri-environment options scheme to clear and maintain channels running through their land in a way that is supervised and assisted by the OPW, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Inland Fisheries Ireland or whoever. We cannot continue to allow our drains, streams and rivers to take care of themselves, but that is essentially what is happening at the moment. This is everyone's problem but no one's problem. What happens subsequently, when the water backs out, comes into someone's house and destroys land and private property? Then we all scramble to throw a few hundred million euro here, there and everywhere.

In many cases what is missing is an overall management plan. It is depressing to look at the Office of Public Works website and read the manual for arterial drainage with references to all the vested interests which have a say in what happens before a river is drained or material is taken out. The one group of people who seem to have no say are those who live on the banks of the rivers or who have watched thousands of gallons of water coming in their front door and out their back door. We should be honest with ourselves. Are we going to allow a situation whereby our rivers, streams, tributaries and dykes are to continue to be clogged full of dirt, debris, sediment and every sort of rubbish known to man, while pretending there is no problem?

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