Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, dealt with the issue of mandating insurance companies to provide insurance in areas where there has been repeated flooding over the years. It is not possible to do that. Applications are being received as we speak for assistance in regard to the consequences of flooding. One woman told me that the flood damage to her business is estimated at €250,000. The State has a duty in so far as it can, in respect of communications and the provision of adequate facilities, to deal with uncommon consequences of heavy rain, wind and high tides. In these cases, in Cork, Galway and Wexford, they have brought devastation. The national co-ordination unit is in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister is the lead in that respect. The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, has been at pains to visit a number of locations and will do so again this weekend to see how the State can assist.

I recall the landslide that occurred in my county a number of years ago and how the Red Cross was activated in terms of an additional facility or call for assistance, together with local authorities and the measures the State can take. From 1986 to 2013, some €320 million was spent by what was then the board of works on flood defences. Some €20 million related to minor flood works in addition to €50 million spent on programmes such as catchment flood risk assessment and management. If we take the case mentioned by Deputy Martin about the defence of Cork, the estimate for 10 km of defence in the longer term is between €50 million and €100 million. With respect to the intelligence of Members, none of them is in a position to say what we need.

The Deputy speaks of consultants as if they just sit behind desks and tell us what to do. There is an engineering challenge in the defence of Cork city, its inhabitants and business that is very complex, given that there are two rivers, an extent of flood water, the dam and Lough Mahon heading out to the open sea. It is not an easy issue to resolve, as these are complex engineering works. We will have to invest in order to get the right answer to the problem we face.

The local authorities are now required to review their programme every six years where planning permissions are issued with regard to the consequences of bad decisions made over the years. The river splits in Cork, and there are islands; as a consequence there is added complexity, and that does not mean that engineering expertise is not required to point out the best thing to do. It is a case of applications for assistance being received now and we will consider all this on Tuesday at the Cabinet meeting. There will be a discussion in the House afterwards and everybody will pick up new information from the locations they represent about the damage inflicted on people.

I agree with everybody that the response from the communities, together with the emergency services and agencies, has been absolutely first class. There is real commitment evident and people know that when nature wreaks devastation in this fashion, it is very difficult to deal with it. All we can do from a Government perspective is identify the scale of the problem and what we can deal with before doing so as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context