Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I wish to join with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, and Deputy Troy who, during Leaders' Questions this morning, commended local authorities and the emergency services working on the flooding situation in Cork and other affected areas. I understand that the national co-ordination group for emergency management has met and is working closely with local services in the affected areas.

I sought to raise the issue earlier this week and in the meantime I have met with the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, whose responsibilities include the Office of Public Works. I also met with other TDs yesterday whose constituencies have been affected by flooding along the River Shannon, including parts of Offaly, Westmeath, Roscommon and east Galway.

Summer flooding along the Shannon has become more frequent in recent years, but never has it been more severe than in recent weeks. The Shannon Callows traditionally flood between October and April, hence farmers rely heavily on dry summers for the production of silage and grazing ground.

In the week beginning Monday, 11 June, Met Éireann issued a weather alert warning of severe rainfall and floods. Continuous rain on Thursday and Friday resulted in flooding on lands traditionally used for grazing. The deluge has meant that some silage-bearing ground is being used for grazing, resulting in a loss of winter feed, while some farmers are using winter feed for cattle which should be grazing. Many farmers now fear that they may have to sell stock to compensate for this loss. In some cases, individual farmers have up to 58 acres under water. As a result of the flooding between Banagher and Athlone, thousands of acres have been destroyed and are under water.

Many people say that all this could have been avoided. The bodies which have authority to agree to open sluice-gates include the ESB, Waterways Ireland and the OPW. Yet in this instance, it was Saturday before the gates at Lusmagh and Meelick were opened. The Minister of State's officials confirmed yesterday that no specific protocol is currently in place to oblige these authorities to open sluice-gates, despite the issuance of severe weather warnings.

Why must we wait for the damage to be done before acting in this regard? It seems unbelievable that in this day and age such a catastrophe could be allowed to happen, considering the warnings that were put in place.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's commitment to a meeting next Tuesday of all relevant stakeholders in an effort to resolve this issue. However, the Minister of State should support the concept of an agreed protocol in consultation with the IFA, landowners and farming authorities. Such a protocol should be put in place as soon as possible. In that way, as soon as such a weather alert is received, the relevant authorities would have to act appropriately by opening sluice-gates, thus avoiding the decimation of family incomes and livelihoods as we have recently witnessed.

The Minister of State should also put in place a compensation package as was done two years ago. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine should ask his officials to ascertain and quantify the losses in conjunction with farming organisations. A mechanism should then be agreed to replenish feed to an equivalent cost for farmers who have been affected.

See this speech in context