John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate much of what my colleague, Deputy O'Donovan, has said. He is right in saying there is a stream in virtually every townland, whether urban or rural. Many urban streams are underground and have been piped for many years, and people do not know where they are. The proliferation of agencies involved in dealing with drainage issues must be resolved. We need an agency with overall responsibility for drainage if we are to tackle the issue of flooding across the country, whether the flooding of homes, businesses or land. Flooding causes devastation, particularly for people in their domestic home environment, and it leaves a dreadful mark, but also in businesses through the damage it wreaks. The Government should consider having one lead agency which would be responsible for flooding. In my area, Kilkenny, there are issues of flooding which are often passed between the local authority, the Office of Public Works and the harbour boards in New Ross and Waterford on particular issues as they arise. Arising from what we have seen of the weather in recent weeks, if the Government can act to ensure that somebody has overall responsibility that would certainly be progress.

I pay tribute to those on the front line, whether in local authorities or in the ESB. In the past week in the Minister's area and mine, Trojan work has been undertaken by the ESB, in particular, to have people reconnected. It is taking much longer to do this in some areas than in others, but the level of damage wreaked this day week was immense. For part of the evening most of the roads out of Kilkenny City were blocked with fallen trees. Individual landowners, local authority staff and private citizens put their shoulders to the wheel to ensure those arteries were opened up. I pay tribute to them for that work.

The issue of dredging will have to be grasped. It is very seldom that anything slightly resembling dredging happens, and if something happens, questions are raised by certain arms of the State. To echo the sentiments of Deputy O'Donovan, the human habitat is the one that needs to be protected first and foremost, and particularly people's residences. We cannot dodge the question of dredging of main arterial routes, but for all substantial waterways a policy needs to be undertaken in that regard. With regard to the suggestion the Deputy has made for the rural development scheme, it should include initiatives for landowners to carry out works on waterways that pass through their landholdings. There have been significant changes in recent years in terms of the types of agriculture engaged in. In certain parts of the country, much of the flooding, at least anecdotally, is attributed to large areas now under afforestation which were not in the past, with big open drains that quickly lead large quantities of water into bottleneck situations in towns and villages across the country, with the result that rivers cannot cope with the water coming more quickly than in the past. The rural development scheme would be a useful vehicle for landowners to engage in drainage works on their own land.

On the issue of insurance, the Minister was in New Ross recently, which, although it is in my neighbouring constituency, is my local town. Dreadful damage was done to a swimming pool, recently developed, which lost its roof last Wednesday. It had been open only a couple of months. Serious damage was caused on the quayside in that town. Many people who have businesses and homes in that area and in parts of Kilkenny, including Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh, cannot get insurance for their properties. Action has to be taken to help those people.

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