Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Listening to the talking heads over the past two weeks on radio and television giving advice about what should happen next in Haiti, one could not help but think how singularly ill-qualified we are in Ireland to advise anybody, even on a minor crisis and not a disaster such as happened in Haiti. As I only have two minutes I will make two basic points, the first on what should happen now so that what has become an annual breakdown of public services does not become the norm when we have some extreme weather conditions.

I wish to pay tribute to the workers in my local authorities which cover my constituency, that is, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council. There have been criticisms across the country that local authorities were too late or their responses were inadequate but the reality is the personnel in my constituency, given the conditions in which they were working and the constraints they were under, were nothing short of heroic and still are because we still have a major problem with water. They were working throughout this period with their hands tied behind their backs, largely in isolation from what was going on in other local authorities, lacking national direction and without resources and information. In a crisis the gathering and communication of information across the country is vital but that was lacking. Inevitably, the local authority response was fragmented.

The flooding, snow and water were national crises and needed a national response. The water and snow does not observe county boundaries and the reality is that no one county council could possibly see or deal with the full picture. We have a national Government to deal with a national crisis because only it is in a position of oversight. It can see the overall picture and the local weaknesses, communicate with the public, gather information and generally co-ordinate the response. The bottom line is that extreme weather conditions will now be the norm. That is what we are being told. We should prepare now and not wait until next winter to provide a template as to how the Government will respond in emergencies such as this and how it can ensure co-ordination of all the other agencies providing services on the ground.

My second point is more strategic and concerns how we ensure extreme weather conditions do not become an emergency, but rather that they will become the norm and we can deal with and anticipate these events. My colleagues have spoken about Fine Gael's proposal to create a national utility company to provide a massive investment in water infrastructure, not just to meet current demand but to drive the economic recovery. I heard the Minister refer to a 1% replacement of pipes every year. We might as well throw our hat at the problem if it will take 100 years to replace the pipe system. In Dublin the water network is Victorian and is already haemorrhaging water, so we will not get anywhere if have such a low level of replacement. The Minster cannot divert vital capital spending which is needed for the roads in order to replace water pipes.

All of the large building projects which started during the Celtic tiger are finishing this year, including the building of terminal 2, the inter-urban routes, the conference centre and the stadium, so this is the time to put a huge capital investment injection into the economy, provide the kind of stimulus package and vital infrastructure which is needed, and at the same time ensure we have water and roads for the recovery of the economy.

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