Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht

Property Insurance: Discussion with Irish Rural Dwellers Association

2:30 pm

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

Mr. Doyle mentioned the Shannon, and prior to the arrival of the witnesses the committee passed a motion that its all-party report be referred to the Dáil where it would be discussed with the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, present. The report includes eight recommendations and I believe the witnesses will agree with most of them. The IFA came before the committee and we discussed the matter with them. We are anxious to solve this issue as it is a problem with regard to many rivers apart from the Shannon.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is a particular problem. It sees its role as protecting wildlife, but allowing water levels to rise so high on the Shannon and other rivers means entire species such as the corncrake are being wiped out. There is a similar problem on a smaller scale in my constituency with the River Goul. I ask Mr. Doyle to comment on this. I am very concerned about it. We will end up losing species and wiping out the human race along river banks because farming will not be viable if the Taliban approach of the National Parks and Wildlife Service continues. As a Deputy I feel it needs to be challenged and I encourage the witnesses to do so. Rules made in Brussels will not work during extreme weather events in Killarney, in Cullahill in Laois or along the banks of the Shannon, and this has been proved. We need to drive home this message loud and clear.

Mr. Doyle made a good point on townlands being flooded. It is a problem. Consultants are hired to zone areas and draw up flood maps but the problem is that areas are lumped together. It is an issue with local area plans whereby huge townlands have been sterilised and designated as flood plains. In Mountmellick an entire area was designated as a flood plain but in actual fact a strip approximately 10 meters wide along the edge of a drain is a flood plain, but the rest of the area cannot be flooded because it is a hill and water will not flow uphill - at least I never saw it do so. We need to address this issue.

I am interested in the views of the witnesses with regard to the policy of the National Parks and Wildlife Service on silt removal and the removal of barriers. This problem will multiply throughout the country and is already becoming a significant issue. Had we followed the present approach under the old Board of Works, which preceded the Office of Public Works, approximately one third of what is now agricultural land would not be such and part of the country would still be covered in bogs and woods. I would like to hear the views of the witnesses on how best this can be tackled. It is causing serious problems, including flooding in towns, because the rules on removing a bit of silt are so strict that if one wants to do €1,000 worth of work with a Hymac, one must obtain a €10,000 report, and if six or 12 months pass one must obtain another report. This is a huge issue which needs to be addressed.

With regard to insurance, obviously imposing an extra levy would be difficult. Does Mr. Doyle see a legal or legislative response to this through the Dáil and Seanad bringing forward new legislation to protect people living in townlands where, to put it simply, a small part of the townland may be flooded but the greater part of the townland would not? Does the law on this need to be changed?

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