Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Chairman to give me a small bit of leeway because I will have to leave later. There was one other issue, namely, dumping into our lakes, streams and waterways. It is mentioned in the report but there are no specific actions mentioned. I see it in Cork North-Central and about ten years ago there was a major flood in Blackpool, which had been flooded a number of times. There are ESB cables on these big wheels and one of them came down the River Bride and got stuck under the bridge in Blackpool. It was there for a while and then there were severe rains. Everything was brushed down and got caught and then the whole place flooded. As a consequence none of the businesses there can get insurance because there is a flood risk. When I was a councillor on Cork City Council at the time it was a question of who manages the streams and waterways and who is responsible. There are some good community groups out there that do fabulous voluntary work and it is brilliant that people get involved in their communities. It ties up communities, especially when a lot of communities would have had home ownership or people in social housing one time whereas nowadays a lot of people are renting and moving into communities. Being involved in community clean-ups and managing waterways is good but who has the responsibility from a Government point of view to ensure they are managed and maintained and that work is done with the community? There is nothing worse than seeing a beautiful stream or river with litter everywhere. What action needs to be taken?