Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The contribution by the previous speaker, Deputy Mattie McGrath, sums up how varied and different are the problems with respect to flooding throughout our island. Cork first received its charter 830 years ago and while there is some discussion about flooding and flood plains, had the present day planners been around 800-plus years ago, perhaps Cork would not have developed as an urban area but then again, neither would have the communities that ended up as the Netherlands. I very much welcome the recent announcement in Cork by the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, that finally, a solution to Cork's flooding problems will be financed by the Government and that Cork city, the second most densely populated part of the Republic of Ireland, will be given the necessary protection.

There are three ways in which Cork city floods. First, there is what is termed as fluvial flooding, which is a build-up of water running off the land and then coming down through Inniscarra Dam and down into the low-lying city. A couple of weeks ago, people experienced tidal flooding, which also is affected by winds that can push a high tide back up into the city centre. Third, there is the flooding that can affect everywhere by virtue of extremely heavy rainfall and that may come down through places such as Glanmire and Blackpool.

Given that Cork has flooded so many times we have, perhaps, a higher degree of knowledge there about how to respond to flooding. We do not use our agencies enough. Every time we have a serious flood there is an announcement of a fund which is distributed on a means basis through the community welfare officers. I was Lord Mayor of Cork when we had a very significant flood event and we established a committee involving the local authorities, the Red Cross and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. We do not use this local knowledge sufficiently.

Our initial response to flooding in Ireland can be very good. Our emergency services can work, we can bring out the Army etc. and clean up very quickly, but businesses and communities can be left with situations that are extremely difficult and laborious. We should examine a way whereby we fund directly into the local authorities, perhaps to give rates holidays to affected businesses and to go door to door to try to establish which families are experiencing immediate hardship. When there is a significant flood event the community welfare officers should be brought out of their offices and into the local community halls to meet people in order that assistance can be given directly and quickly in the areas where the damage has happened.

We have a long way to go on insurance, particularly in urban areas. People who repeatedly reinvest in their businesses after flood events need to know there is some way to get a community-rated insurance. There are many businesses in the country that cannot get insurance which, pending significant work that is being done by the Government, would be happy to pay into some sort of fund from which they could draw down in the event of another flood. I accept that the Exchequer cannot underwrite potential flood loss through lack of insurance in every part of the country. However, where there is an acknowledgement that there is a significant problem and a commitment to remove the flood risk - as we have in the Blackpool area of Cork and the city centre - in that interim period of possibly a number of years, even if work commended in the next year and a half, businesses will be in a vacuum and that needs to be considered.

Cork has done exceptionally well because of our talented work pool and the quality of our third-level institutions. However, there are parts of the city, particularly around University College Cork, UCC and coming in along the Western Road where one cannot get planning permission. While I understand why flood plains in rural areas cannot get planning, as I said at the beginning, it is totally unacceptable that there are areas of a great city such as Cork which cannot get planning, especially bearing in mind that the commitment has been made to remove the problem.

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