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

People are quite tolerant when big schemes do not arrive. If €200,000 had been spent in Portumna, it would have done an awful lot to assist with the channel or canal that comes in from the river. Relatively small amounts of money could be provided for the reinforcement of ditches and the clearing of drains, etc. If a comprehensive and proactive system of prevention had been consistently deployed, we could have avoided many of the situations that developed. When the figure of €34 million that I have mentioned is examined by the families and volunteers who have been working pumps and hauling sandbags to save their homes and the shop owners who have been sweeping out the debris of their lost stock, they will ask what is or will be different this time.

I would like to make a point about preparation. We heard a great deal about the key issue of who is in charge. We kept hearing that there was no sense of anyone being in charge on the ground. The staff on the ground were fantastic, but there was no protocol around pumps, for example.

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