James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairperson. I welcome the OPW and other officials. It will be probably be no surprise to them I am raising the Midleton flood relief scheme and other projects under the OPW's remit. I will draw on something from a 2014 press release by Séamus Whelan to set my argument in motion here. A response the OPW gave to Cork county councillors in the East Cork Municipal District at the time provided information to say it was going to be at least another five to seven years before the Midleton flood relief scheme would be delivered. They were told at the time in 2014 that following an internal review, the OPW will then pass a draft document on to Cork County Council for finalisation that will include fluvial flooding, which is flooding from direct rainfall and therefore important in the context of Storm Babet. It also said the OPW was currently drafting a technical specification procurement document for the appointment of a consultant to the Midleton flood risk assessment and management study.

Let us fast forward nine years to October 2023 when some parts of Midleton were under more than 5 ft of water. Nothing had been done and hundreds of homes were flooded. Businesses were totally and utterly destroyed. People's lives were turned upside down. In some homes, the walls have still not been repaired. The floodwaters rose to hip height and homes flooded not only in Midleton but also in Mogeely, Rathcormac, Ladysbridge, Killeagh and other smaller settlements in that area. Midleton, in particular, the Mill Road area and other parts of the town, were absolutely devastated. While it is hard to get a final estimate of the damage in east Cork, Cork County Council estimates that road damage alone will cost €54 million.

I will also refer to the speed of what happened that day with Storm Babette. Very intensive rainfall took place over a 48-hour period. People were going about their daily lives on the Main Street of Midleton. Ladies in one of the hairdressers on the Main Street who were halfway through getting their hair done found water up to their ankles. The fire brigade went into the community hospital in Midleton and found hot meals floating around on trays when they were trying to evacuate residents. It was a miracle that nobody died.

I have an obligation on behalf of the people who elected me to serve them in Dáil Éireann to ask the OPW why in God's name nothing happened in the previous decade. Those steps should have been taken in 2014. We in east Cork deserve an explanation. I direct that question to Mr. Conlon.