Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I raise this issue given the severe flooding in the Cork area on 19 November 2009, the first anniversary of which is approaching this week. There are a number of issues surrounding the aftermath of this severe flooding and I want to concentrate on the plight of residents and business owners in the area who are not being given insurance or must pay severe excess charges.

As the Minister of State is probably aware, the flooding resulted from severe rainfall in the month of October which built up in November. The ESB has two dams on the upper Lee catchment area, the Carrigadrohid dam and the Inniscarra dam. There was a wind, rain and tidal alert on the night of 19 November but this was not a tidal flood but one which came from the upper catchment of the River Lee. The area flooded was not prone to the type of flooding that happens in Cork city, which is caused by a combination of high tides, easterly winds and high levels of rainfall. It was a different type of flood which has been described as a once-off, flash flood. Residents who have been living in the area for years, and whose ancestors lived there for centuries, know the area does not have a history of flooding.

This is the crux of the matter. These residents now find themselves in a situation where they cannot insure their homes or business premises. A report published in July 2010 by the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government recommended that there would be an independent investigation into the flooding and that a co-ordinated attempt would be made by the city council, county council and the ESB to address the issue. What can be done to put in place management structures for the dams in consultation with the ESB and the local authorities to make sure the insurance companies can get to a position where they will insure residential households and business premises?

It is important to repeat that this area is not normally prone to flooding. A severe flood occurred last November but nobody has stepped up to the plate and outlined what could have prevented it. We need an independent investigation to establish what exactly went wrong so we can put in place structures and lines of communication to ensure it does not happen again. Meanwhile, residents in areas that have never been flooded find themselves victims. They are powerless and are being stonewalled by the insurance companies. There is an opportunity for the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, who has visited the area, to step in and speak to the insurance companies to find what they are doing to alleviate the difficulties. If the Minister of State, Deputy Connick, visited the area today, he would see the locations where the quay walls were broken by the force of the river and have not yet been replaced.

We are facing into the winter and there have been flood alerts in recent weeks. The residents are extremely vulnerable and feel the State is not stepping in to protect them and ensure they can continue to live in the relative security they had before 19 November 2009.

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