Michael Finneran (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)

I have raised this matter so the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government might provide emergency funds to Roscommon County Council so that it might raise a number of roads in the county, particularly in the south Roscommon villages of Clonown, Cloncoran, Moore and Derrycahill-Ballyforan, where the roads servicing a large number of families are flooded to a depth that leaves them impassable.

It is a sad state of affairs that in the mouth of Christmas 2006 up to 50 families are marooned in south Roscommon. A large number of roads into the villages I mentioned are not sufficiently raised above flood level. I brought this issue to the Government in 2001. Some €500,000 was allocated and the raising of roads took place. Due to the passage of time and a more severe flood, that raising of road levels is not sufficient today.

I know the Minister of State may say Roscommon County Council has been given an allocation in recent days to deal with this. That is not adequate nor appropriate funding for raising of roads. In many cases these roads need to be raised by up to three feet. This would allow those villagers to go to Mass, visit the doctor, go to school or go shopping in times of flood. It is a sad state of affairs that people in south Roscommon must use tractors and lorries to traverse the roads and go about their day-to-day business.

I have been in touch with the HSE and understand that a four wheel drive ambulance has been made available in case of emergencies. I have asked for the Army to be put on alert in case people, stock or fodder have to be moved. There is great hardship in the farming community, with 50,000 acres under flood. I will urge tonight that Roscommon County Council be given the moneys to raise the roads to the village of Clonown in south Roscommon and to smaller villages off the Carricknaughton Road, as well as the Carricknaughton Road itself, by a minimum of two feet. Cloncoran is cut off, with water to a depth of 1.5 feet on the road. In certain areas of the parish of Moore people cannot get to fodder their stock. Derrycahill, on the banks of the River Suck, is cut off by two feet of water and only one person on a tractor has been able to get out of the village for almost a week. The Ballyforan-Feevagh Road is cut off to children attending Feevagh national school, who must undertake a five-mile round trip.

This is totally unacceptable in the Ireland of today, with the coffers overflowing with money. These people are in a desperate situation and the hardship inflicted on them by this flood is unacceptable. I call on the Minister to immediately enter negotiations with the manager of Roscommon County Council, Mr. John Tiernan, and his staff, to make available adequate funds. I am not talking about large funds or spending millions of euro to build highways, I am talking about raising stretches of road that will allow people to gain access to their farms and, in particular, to their houses, places of worship, shops, doctors and other services they may need. It is not asking too much to provide people with a basic entitlement such as a road to their house that is not under two feet of water.

I appreciate the extra funding given by the Minister to all county councils but an enormous expenditure will have to be undertaken by Roscommon County Council to repair the roads damaged by the flood. I ask that emergency funds be provided for Roscommon County Council for the repair of roads to houses and villages and that negotiations start immediately with the county manager and his staff so that we can tell the people of south Roscommon they are not abandoned.

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