Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. An unprecedented weather event has taken place. It has had a devastating effect on many parts of County Clare and, in particular, on our county town. Those of us who have had an opportunity to visit the sites that have been flooded - I believe all the Oireachtas Members in the House have done that during the past few days - have seen the trauma many families are going through. Thankfully, counselling is being given to some people and, without a doubt, it is necessary. To see middle-aged and elderly men crying at the devastation that has befallen their families is very difficult to witness. Unfortunately, we have had to witness that and we must now work with those families to try to help them not only to rebuild their houses, but their homes and their lives. I am thankful that the Government has moved today with the introduction of what I believe is the first phase of relief, through the provision of humanitarian aid, to take people immediately out of the crisis they face. Further funding will be required to ensure that a similar event will not recur or at least that we will work to prevent, in so far as is possible, such an event recurring.

I am thankful to the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, and the Taoiseach who visited Ennis and other sites where there is flooding in County Clare over the weekend to see at first hand the crisis citizens and constituents have faced. I am thankful for that.

It would be remiss of me not to recognise the tremendous effort made by the pre-arranged emergency services through the co-ordination of the county council. The local county council manager, Mr. Tom Coughlan, has done a fantastic job in conjunction with superintendent John Scanlon and captain Mick Hickey and officer Adrian Kelly from the fire service. Collectively, they have co-ordinated, through the multi-agency approach, an exceptionally well-designed and well-executed emergency plan. I have seen it at first hand in many of the sites that have been flooded over the weekend. I have seen people being evacuated in a very careful and controlled way, with efforts made to limit the difficulties they have encountered.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, who has responsibility for the OPW, for the work the OPW has done, but I appeal to him to recognise there will be an ongoing need to build defences in the areas that have been identified this time, the lack of which contributed to much of the flooding. I hope we will have an opportunity to discuss this matter in the House again and that I will have an opportunity to lead a delegation along with Deputies Pat Breen and Joe Carey and the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen, to the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, to put forward what is needed in County Clare to prevent further flooding.

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