Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important subject. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, who is directly responsible for this matter. I hope he will be able to provide an answer to a straightforward question. When will the Minister for Finance approve funding for the Clonmel flood alleviation scheme? There is great frustration and anger in Clonmel because of the way this issue was handled, particularly in the last 12 months. We were promised that work would begin last September and when this did not happen, we were told it would start in the spring. Spring has come but there is still no sign of approval for the funding and commencement of the scheme.

I hope the Minister of State will confirm that the Minister has approved the funding and that the scheme will commence as early as possible and not later than this spring. In other words, construction must begin either this month or next. The Minister of State is aware that the flooding situation in Clonmel is absolutely horrendous. It was 12 years last Friday since approval was sought for this scheme. I was mayor of the town when I chaired a public meeting on 9 February 1995 to consider a proposal to close the local Kickham Barracks. We emerged from this meeting to discover the town had been flooded in the course of some 90 minutes. I live on the far side of the town, in the Old Bridge area, and was only able to return home with the help of the Army, members of which have done Trojan work in this area over the years.

There have been floods in Clonmel, to a greater or lesser extent, every year since 1995. The quays were flooded again this year and damage amounting to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of euro was done to homes and businesses. As the Minister of State well knows, it is not possible to obtain insurance cover in parts of Clonmel that are prone to flooding, including the Old Bridge area, O'Connell Terrace, the quays, Irishtown and Parnell Street, where significant numbers of homes and businesses have been flooded over the years. Residents and businesses in these areas have no way to secure insurance having been refused by all the insurance companies. They had to rely time and again on moneys from the Red Cross — assistance that was welcome although not enough to cover the losses they suffered.

We were promised construction of this scheme would commence last September. In reply to a parliamentary question late last year, the Minister of State told me that this commencement date had not been possible but that work would definitely commence in the spring. No moneys have been provided for this purpose, however. Will the Minister of State give a commitment that the funding will be provided and that the scheme will commence this spring, that is, this month or next at the latest?

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