Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not accept Deputy Gilmore's first contention, which is that there was no national response. There has been a good level of co-ordination as a result of the establishment of the emergency planning office some years ago. Those plans are in place precisely to meet such situations. There is good inter-agency co-ordination, which provides a quick response when an emergency arises. We should not be awaiting a response from a central Department about how to deal with a particular situation in west Cork, east Galway or elsewhere. That is not the way to get a quick and effective response. Local authorities, at city and county level, are the leading agencies in these matters. They bring together the various local agencies that are involved, including the Army, Civil Defence, Garda Síochána and Health Service Executive. The HSE has issued public health notices and other information where required. There is a need to safeguard major installations such as water pumping stations where possible and hospitals, as well as helping those in difficulty in flooded housing estates and other locations. The public accepted that sense of prioritised co-ordination, which was fundamental in ensuring an effective response. In fairness, people have been working 24/7 since last Thursday evening. The work has been undertaken in a co-ordinated fashion and I believe it has a lot of public support.

A co-operative community spirit lies behind many of the efforts that are being made. These include contacting and protecting vulnerable people to ensure that they have access to drinking water. Local community groups are calling to homes to augment and facilitate those efforts in line with the emergency teams already in place. All that work must be recognised and commended. Given that those efforts were structured locally, it meant the response was far better than if it had originated at a centralised level.

In addition, the emergency co-ordination committee has a responsibility to pull all that work together to see what priorities emerge. That committee must ensure that the necessary resources are made available, including personnel. The Defence Forces, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and other agencies must have an overview of what is happening, while people locally work non-stop to deal with the situation as it arises. That co-ordination has worked. Clearly, however, the challenge continues and changes daily from location to location. Somewhere that was not too badly affected yesterday could be in serious difficulty today, so the situation is being monitored continually.

It is incumbent on the insurance industry to provide a speedy response. I have already met people who have had insurance inspectors in to estimate the cost of repairing flood damage. In addition, community welfare officers are making funds available to those in difficulty. I am not suggesting that this morning's announcement concerning the €12 million fund represents the Government's full response, but we must open the fund to ensure that moneys are available in addition to urgent needs and exceptional needs payments. The latter payments are already being provided to families who can establish to the satisfaction of officials that they have immediate needs, such as clothing, bedding or food.

What is being provided is not compensation, but humanitarian relief for those in immediate difficulties. Business losses do not come into that category. It is a matter that will have to be dealt with by the insurance industry itself. Business people are currently in the process of getting back up and running for the Christmas period where flooding has abated in certain towns.

We all share the sense of urgency about the floods and we all accept that it has been a very difficult situation for many communities in a short space of time. It should be acknowledged that everybody who had a responsibility to discharge has done so excellently in the best traditions of the public service. They are doing so on an ongoing basis. I commend everyone for that. A resilient community spirit is also assisting these efforts to alleviate and mitigate the undoubted hardships for many families in the affected areas.

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