Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

On behalf of the Government, I thank Deputies Jerry Buttimer and Michael McGrath for raising this matter in order that I might address a number of points on the difficulties the people of Cork city and county experienced in the past week as a result of flooding. While, thankfully, no lives were lost, the flooding has impacted on homes and businesses in various areas. I agree that this has been an awful and devastating experience for the people concerned.

Met Éireann issued a severe weather warning at 4.54 p.m. on Wednesday, 27 June in respect of torrential and, possibly, thundery downpours during the period from 11 p.m. on that date to noon on 28 June. As predicted, there was heavy rainfall across the country. This spread from the south west and travelled in a north-easterly direction. A number of localised downpours occurred, particularly in several areas of Cork. Given their nature, it is not possible to predict accurately the exact location, scale or intensity of such downpours. An aggravating factor was the fact that the ground was already saturated as a result of the wettest June on record.

On foot of the weather warning to which I refer, Cork City Council and Cork County Council prepared by deploying outdoor staff to check drainage systems were clear; mobilising engineering staff to monitor rainfall and river levels; contacting the other principal response agencies, namely, An Garda Síochána and the HSE, to prepare for a co-ordinated response; and putting senior management on stand-by for crisis management roles. I listened carefully to what the Deputies said about the culvert in Douglas and intend to have the matter investigated. Information on that investigation will form part of the report I have requested from the city and county councils. Clonakilty, Douglas, Glanmire, Blackpool and Ballyvolane were particularly affected by the flooding. Road access to and from Clonakilty and Douglas was severely impacted upon and a number of roads were impassable. Flooding of ESB sub-stations left approximately 10,000 homes and businesses without power. Rivers burst their banks at Clonakilty and Douglas, causing severe flooding.

As the rainfall worsened Cork County Council's crisis management team activated its flood response plan at 4.10 a.m. on 28 June. Local authority fire services, engineering and outdoor staff were fully deployed to assist those worst affected. Civil Defence and other voluntary services were mobilised to assist and inter-agency co-ordination arrangements were formalised with An Garda Síochána and the HSE. In the light of the deteriorating situation, Cork County Council declared a major emergency at 6 a.m. on 28 June. This joined-up response involved communication and public information; prioritising resources to the worst affected areas; traffic management; rescue and evacuation; and pumping water in order to clear roads and protect infrastructure and property.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government was notified of the situation in Cork shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday last. As the extent of the impact of the rainfall elsewhere was unknown and because there were reports of significant power outages, it was decided to convene a meeting of the flooding national co-ordination group for 9.30 a.m. The group met again at 2.30 p.m. when it was decided to stand down because there were no major impacts outside Cork and the situation in the county was being effectively managed by Cork County Council and Cork City Council. The Cork major emergency plan was stood down at 6 p.m. on 28 June.

Specific recovery actions undertaken and still, to some extent, under way are working with local communities to clean up areas affected - I express my gratitude to local people in places such as Clonakilty because the clean-up to which I refer would not be possible without them - provision of skips to assist businesses and residents and opening recycling depots free of charge for those affected. In addition, the Department of Social Protection is actively involved, under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, in assisting those families and individuals affected by the flooding. The scheme in question provides for exceptional needs payments to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure which people could not be expected to meet from their weekly incomes. Furthermore, there is provision for assistance in the form of urgent needs payments. In certain circumstances, these payments can be made to persons who would not normally be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is in contact with Cork City Council and Cork County Council in the context of assisting with road restoration, the rebuilding of walls which may have collapsed and the making of repairs to other items of infrastructure damaged by flooding. The Office of Public works is carrying out a catchment flood risk assessment study of the south-west river basin district area which includes County Cork. This will produce a prioritised list of measures to address areas of significant flood risk and assign responsibility for their implementation. The study will also incorporate the recommendations of a pilot study already completed by the OPW on the River Lee catchment.

The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform are considering ways in which we can assist the Red Cross in the provision of humanitarian assistance. They have also asked the financial institutions to help, if at all possible, the small number of businesses which have been affected, particularly those with no insurance. Local authorities' budgeting does not provide for costs they incur when responding to unforeseeable emergencies. The costs incurred by Cork County Council, Cork City Council and Clonakilty Town Council during and following the flooding last week are being assessed. I will be considering the position in this regard with relevant Government colleagues as quickly as possible. When all details and analyses of the flooding event that occurred in Cork last week are to hand in the coming days, a detailed report will be prepared for the Government task force on emergency planning in order that we can make a contribution to improving our resilience to deal with severe weather events of the kind witnessed last week. I will report to the Deputies in due course on the financial assistance which can, notwithstanding the fiscal constraints on the Government, be provided for the local authorities in question.

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