Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter today. All our thoughts are with those connected to the many homes and businesses that have suffered owing to serious flooding over the past weekend. It was a very traumatic time for many people. Unfortunately, many suffered two floods within a few weeks. I commend those who worked so hard over the weekend. Donegal County Council, the fire service, the Army, ESB and members of the local community volunteered to help the businesses and homes affected in my county and they did their best to prevent the flooding that was taking place. Across Donegal, there was very severe flooding. In some cases, it was unlike any seen in many years. Towns such as Lifford, Ballindrait, Castlefinn, Kilmacrennan, Glenties and Pettigo all suffered from very serious flooding, as did many other towns and villages to a greater or lesser extent. I hope the Minister for Social Protection will be able to assure the public today that we will see a compensation scheme that will help those people who are in tremendous distress financially and in terms of facing the task of trying to remedy the problem.

Compensation must be accessible and appropriate to the type of damage experienced, and prevention measures must be expedited to ensure there is no repeat of the flooding. Clearly, we cannot prevent rain from falling from the sky, but we must do everything in our power to ensure lessons are learned from previous flooding patterns and introduce appropriate flood defences to prevent flooding where this is possible, as is often the case. We must ensure we are prepared for similar events in the future by learning lessons from what occurred in recent weeks in order that people do not fear a repeat of this experience.

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