James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

He characterised the current rainfall as a once in 30 years event. With the effects of climate change, however, this will change to a once in ten years event by the middle of this century. I hope we will all be around to see it. Flooding will occur with a two to three-year frequency by the end of the century.

According to the European Environment Agency, the volume of rainwater is set to increase and the peak period for rainfall in Ireland will be concentrated between December and February. There will be longer periods of intense rain, which will last for days at a time.

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