Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State is aware, the recent flooding in Cork was pretty bad, but it was not the first time there was flooding in the city. There is a history of flooding, unfortunately, dating back to the very bad floods in 2009 that caused considerable structural damage to a number of buildings and damaged homes and businesses. Cork has long been in the process of planning to build flood defences. The recent flooding for two nights in a row took even those of us living within the city by surprise. It is hard to believe, but we saw people swimming up the main street. The amount of water in the city centre was unnatural. I do not believe there was a business in Cork city centre, on the island of Cork city, that was not affected in some way. I spoke to a local café owner who, fortunately, had insurance this time round. She was very fearful that if the money from her insurance policy was drawn down in order that she could get the café up and running again, she would not be able to get insurance cover against flooding again.

We have seen that the flooding is not an event that occurs once in 100 years; unfortunately, for business owners and residents, particularly in Cork city centre but also on the outskirts of the inner island of Cork city, flooding is becoming an annual event. There are various reasons for this. Much of the flooding is tidal. In the city centre there is very little that can be done to prevent tidal flooding. There are, however, some measures that could be taken. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, he was very quick to visit the city following the recent bout of flooding on the Tuesday and Wednesday. He met local business owners, council officials, representatives of the chamber of commerce and Oireachtas Members from Cork. He was very frank and open in his discussion with the delegation. He stressed that addressing the matter was a No. 1 priority for the Government. We cannot have circumstances in which the second city in the State is at risk of flooding continually. To give credit to the local authority, it did everything possible to prevent damage. Sufficient flood warnings were given and a plan was put in place. The local emergency response was co-ordinated. Much credit must go to the local authority for the way it carried itself in the wake of the recent flooding. Many lessons have been learned during the years. This has not always been the case, unfortunately, but on this occasion everything that could have been done to mitigate the damage was done.

Estimates of the cost of building flood defences in Cork range from €50 million to €100 million. The Minister of State has said it will probably cost close to €100 million to put flood defences in place.

Following the meeting with the Minister, Deputy Brian Hayes, business owners now have something to work towards. There is a timetable in place, something we did not have previously. There was always the promise of flood defences being constructed, but a timetable was never set for it. There will be a consultation period which will be concluded very quickly. There will be two public meetings in Cork on 17 and 27 July. Following that, it is the Minister's hope that the preferred scheme for flood defences for Cork city can be in place by the end of this year. According to the Minister, if the consultation goes well and there is buy-in from all of the stakeholders in the city, hopefully work will have begun by the end of next year. That is very welcome.

The insurance issue plays on the minds of many business owners and home owners in the city. Those who had insurance this time will not have it next time. Some businesses did not have insurance on this occasion and, unfortunately, some of them will struggle to reopen. Where the Government has put capital funding in place to alleviate the danger of flooding that must be recognised by the insurance industry. The Minister, Deputy Brian Hayes, is working on trying to get a memorandum of understanding with the insurance companies in that regard, and I wish him well with that.

The other matter I wish to mention is EU funding. I am open to correction on this but I understand that under the current criteria for accessing EU funding for flood damage a country can draw down approximately €1.33 million for every €100 million worth of damage caused. If that is the case, it is not sufficient. My view would be shared by many of the people who have suffered as a result of flooding in recent weeks. We must re-examine the criteria for accessing EU funding.

Finally, I wish to mention an area outside Cork city centre. As I said earlier, most of the flooding in the city is due to tidal surges and there is only so much we can do about that, such as trying to build retention areas for the water as it comes in and, perhaps, build walls or flood defences. However, moving out of the city into the suburbs there is an area, Blackpool, which was flooded twice last year and again this year. It was also flooded in the year before last. It is continually flooded. Works could be carried out to alleviate that problem in the short term.

There will be a holistic approach to the flood defences for Cork city. It will not just focus on the tidal surge in the city but will also deal with the wider Cork city area, which will include Blackpool. The Minister gave a commitment on his recent visit to Cork that he would examine the possibility of proceeding with the flood defences for the Blackpool area as a matter of priority and, perhaps, not wait until the larger contract has been signed. We know what is needed to alleviate the floods for that community. Proper dredging of the river and retention ponds are required. Where the river originates there are flood plains which, unfortunately, were built on in previous years. That has not helped the current situation.

Blackpool is a mainly residential area. There are a few businesses but it is mainly residential properties that have been damaged in recent years. None of them has insurance at present. In this round of flooding the Government has allocated approximately €70 million in total, which is very welcome. However, many residents have found that the criteria for drawing down the funding are difficult in some cases. The Department of Social Protection should examine this and make it easier for residents to draw down funding. There are situations where some households which were just recovering after the previous round of flooding and received assistance from the Department to purchase new white goods, bedding and clothing have seen all of that go again. They are again left with nothing and are relying on the Department to give them a second round of funding.

In conclusion, we welcome the Government's announcement about the timetable for dealing with the flood defences in Cork. All Members of the Oireachtas representing Cork city and county as well as local business organisations and residents will certainly participate in the consultation process. We hope the contracts and the design can be finalised as quickly as possible.

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