Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuilimid ag plé an cheist seo mar bhaineann sé le an-chuid daoine ar fud na tíre. Bhí an damáiste a tharla go dona ar fad, rud atá soiléir agus a bheidh soiléir go ceann cúpla mí eile.

As the country settled into the peace and quiet of the Christmas period, many families found themselves desperately battling to save their homes. Instead of closing up for a few days, businesses were caught in a desperate struggle to save their premises and businesses. The triple threat of Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank wrought devastation across the island and shattered the hopes of hundreds of families. As the storms have abated and the waters begin slowly to recede, the images of stranded homes and ruined businesses remain. As the media attention begins to fade and the story slips into the back pages, we must remember the scale and seriousness of the floods.

Today's statements must be about more than just expressions of sympathy. They must be about taking action. I have witnessed this before. While I do not want to be political in any sense, I remember a previous Minister of State, former Deputy Brian Hayes, who probably knew more than most that he was going to Europe, doing a tour of Ireland in 2014. He gave the same commitments across the country, and they were not followed through with action. The increased ferocity and frequency of the storms hitting this island demand that politicians do more than just turn up to survey the damage.

When the storms happen, there is an outcry, people are concerned and there is much attention.

When the waters recede and the storms abate, it tends to go off the headlines. One gets the sense that the Government goes from year to year hoping there will be no storms this year and it will get away with it. The Taoiseach's mealy-mouthed and poor speech on climate change in Paris is evidence of the Government's reluctance to accept the full impact of this issue. Many people agree with my view that the Taoiseach's contribution to that debate was not a statesmanlike one. It was clear from the noises he was making that he was more concerned with pursuing domestic electoral agendas than with making a solid and significant contribution to the climate change debate in its entirety.

I believe we must focus on three main areas: the immediate response that is needed to help families and businesses, the critical issue of insurance for those affected or threatened by flooding and the need for long-term flood defence planning in this era of climate change. First and foremost must be our efforts to assist those families and businesses that have battled and are continuing to struggle with floods over recent weeks. Financial support is a vital component in reducing the scale and depth of the damage done. As Deputies Troy and Cowen and others have said, businesspeople who are not paying commercial rates, for example because they are not in a commercial area, do not qualify. Many people with tourism businesses, including the owners of chalets and bed and breakfasts, do not qualify for any compensation because of that provision. Some of the other anomalies that have arisen in certain towns are very harsh in their implementation. The compensation package needs to be revisited. I will give a concrete example. I was in a shop in Bandon in respect of which no compensation is to be paid, even though the whole premises is destroyed, because it ceased trading a month or so ago. We need some practical common sense on the ground. If one is not in a rateable area and is not paying rates, one is out and one will not get compensation. The Taoiseach needs to look at this again.

The Government's record in delivering promised support is quite shocking. Much was promised after the 2014 floods, but little was delivered. It is a damning indictment of the Government that some €20 million of the emergency support and repair fund which was put in place after the floods of January 2014, including €19.6 million that was provided for the repair of coastal protections and flood defences in badly affected areas, remains unspent. This was followed by a further underspend of €14.5 million in 2015. We are looking at a massive underspend of €34.5 million which had been allocated for flood relief. I do not know what is going on, but there is something wrong somewhere. When one travels the country, as I did when I went to south Galway, Clare, Cork and elsewhere, one learns that a relatively small level of expenditure would have helped to avoid much of the damage.

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