Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter on the Adjournment tonight. I am disappointed the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is not here. Deputy Clune has raised the issue of flooding in Cork a few times and I have raised this matter on many occasions. On the last occasion I mentioned correspondence between the Office of Public Works and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

This country is in an awful state when two agencies cannot come together to resolve a very small scheme like this. One agency is writing to the other and the process has been held up for over 12 months. We have had tragedies in Cork and other parts of this country over the past number of months and I am afraid that the bigger jobs will be done but the smaller jobs will be left behind.

The family in question suffered again at Christmas, with the water coming to its doorstep. Three years before that the house was flooded and washed away. Are animals and birds more important than people's lives? The last time I raised the issue, the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, gave an answer with which I was very happy. He said that the Government would have to make a decision to put families, people and property before wildlife.

The OPW has done its job and sent the report to the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Has the service given permission for the works to be done? I know the family in question, as its members have land in the area. They love the wildlife, the land and their home but they want to be able to live in it. They cannot do so at present because every time it rains and we have a flood, the family is up all night wondering if the house will be flooded again. This can be resolved with a very small amount of money.

We had a similar issue in Kilmaine many years ago when the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the OPW said flood mitigation could not be carried out. Local developers and farmers said it could be done at a very low cost and eventually, after many years, we persuaded the OPW and the county council to give the process a chance. The spot in Kilmaine had been flooded for the past 50 years and when we experienced in October, November and December the worst flooding since the foundation of the State, not a drop of water came in. The people were delighted.

The same scenario is panning out in Roundfort. The land belonging to this family and its neighbours has been flooded and the scheme proposed by the OPW involves a small amount of money. I hope the Minister of State will not have to speak for long here because he has good news. I hope he will tell me that the National Parks and Wildlife Service has agreed, with the OPW, to allow the work to be done once and for all.

I raised the matter in November and we are now into February. We are coming into the spring and this work must be done between February and September, as it will be impossible after that. The people in question wanted to come to the Dáil this evening to hear me speaking and the Minister of State's response. If we do not get a resolution, we will go to the offices of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and we will not leave until we get a satisfactory reply. It will not hold us up for another 12 months with some guy looking over these papers and making people's lives hell.

The Minister of State can tell the people in the National Parks and Wildlife Service that we are coming. The last time we went to Agriculture House we brought the sheep and let them loose in the Department. This time we will flood the agency with people who have enough of their current problems. They would not mind if there was a genuine reason for the work not happening but we do not even know what is going on. One Department is writing to the other but we want the matter resolved. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for me tonight and that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, along with the OPW, has agreed to the works being done.

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