Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will return to my question. When it comes to flooding, we seem all the time to be closing the stable door when the horse has bolted.

Why do we know what the issue is now? I have spoken to the locals and been there. I spent Christmas Day in Bridgetown and Enniscorthy and my Christmas holidays last year visiting people who were put out of their homes. They were not compensated or restored in any way to where they were before this event. Their criticism of the OPW is that it was all preventable. In most cases, prevention is better and cheaper than the cure. The point is that the sluice gates which are not working and no longer manned in Bridgetown are now the answer. That is what it seems. The locals, who were never engaged, were well aware that this was the issue and had warned of it on a number of occasions. It is now a year later and in that period, action has not been taken.