Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate, which I called for during the recess. I was disappointed that the Government did not take heed, hold an emergency Cabinet meeting and thereafter arrange for a meeting of the Dáil. It was important that those with responsibility be held to account and that proposals be sought and made in an effort to respond appropriately to a crisis that had become a national emergency and remains ongoing.

Like other Deputies, I pay tribute to all emergency service and local authority staff as well as to various members of communities throughout the affected regions who selflessly gave of their time, expertise, equipment and plant in an effort to help those most affected. The Tánaiste stated that we should not politicise this unfortunate event, but we are politicians. We are duty-bound to represent those who give us the privilege to do so, to hold the Government to account, to make and seek proposals and to ensure that policy in this regard is strengthened and the lessons of 2009, irrespective of who was responsible then, have been learned appropriately. Some successful defence mechanisms have been put in place in the meantime, for example, in Clonmel and Fermoy, but it is not right for Government Members, including Ministers, to assert that no Deputy should politicise this event. Of course I do not blame the Government for the weather, but I blame it for its lack of preparedness for the damage that has been and continues to be caused.

Since this event began, we have all heard anecdotal stories in our constituencies of a lack of sandbags. This is despite the fact that a local company in my town produced 60,000 sandbags. There was a lack of pumps. There was also a lack of leadership and the type of co-ordinated approach that would have ensured that such issues did not arise. While the Army was rightly called on, that happened late in the day. It is amazing that it took chaos abounding in Kilkenny or Cork at 3 a.m. before the Army was called.

The emergency plan that the Government has in place on behalf of citizens has not been updated since 2008. One of the first responder bodies that it mentions is "North Tipperary County Council", which has been abolished. This is a clear indication that there was no preparedness, which led to what happened.

Local authorities should have been resourced through funds and personnel from the relevant Departments in the form of a flood office. I was glad to hear in the past hour the Tánaiste eventually saying that the Government had learned this lesson from the debacle, but the Minister with responsibility in this regard could have put an office in place immediately. He should have shown that leadership and direction.

A flood office would have relevant personnel from relevant Departments, be they from the Department of Social Protection or those charged with responsibility for addressing inadequate compensatory measures, who would be available to assist those affected. We are hearing stories about obtaining funding. The Minister will have heard stories from previous speakers about those who cannot gain access to funding. They are told that if they are not ratepayers, they cannot gain access to it. We are aware of farmers whose lands have been decimated and who have hundreds of acres under water. Last week, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, announced a fund of €2 million. We need more details on this. The staff of his Department should also have been available. I was disappointed over the response and believe there is a lesson to be learned in this regard. I hope that, in the future, an office such as the one I propose will be put in place in the local authority, with key personnel available and a telephone number the public can ring so staff can deal with their concerns properly and effectively.

In order to deal with the consequences of the most recent damage caused by flooding and storms, the Minister and the preceding speaker mentioned the cost of repairing roads. Unfortunately, much of the funding that was normally geared towards road maintenance was lost in recent years. There was a cut of up to 50% in the amount required in the past five years. Irish Water got €0.5 billion in road tax receipts. Property tax receipts were given to Irish Water initially. After the major storm in January 2014, the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan, called on local authorities to determine the cost of reinstating roads. Some 37% of what was applied for was not drawn down. In my county, €440,000 was sought and €40,000 was given. When I put a parliamentary question to the current Minister before Christmas, I received a response from the Department stating that €15,000 was sought and given. That is incorrect, and that is why local authority members and their staff fear the authorities will not be adequately funded.

With regard to CFRAM studies, it is important that the public be made aware of the status of the EU initiative to be published later this year. The Government and the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Simon Harris, would have us believe it will be implementable from June 2016. The draft will be published in June of this year. Statutorily, this must involve a six-month consultation process. If there are amendments, there will be further consultation. With regard to the recommendations for the 60 hot spots along the River Shannon and the 300 nationwide, if it is felt that some of the mitigation measures, including dredging, are such that an environmental impact assessment will be obligatory, when will the EU Structural Funds worth €450 million be available for the Government to spend? It is up to the Government to show the sort of leadership that is necessary to take decisions. I have been speaking to officials in the environment section of the EU today and, having done so, I am quite certain they will not be found wanting if the Government can prove the need for adequate compensatory measures based on an impact associated with the EU habitats and water framework directives, with provisions that are made in the CFRAM studies, and provide a public interest statement on the safety of people and property. Therefore, there is no need for more years of consultation in regard to environmental impact statements.

That is the sort of leadership that the Government should have shown in Bandon. It was too easy to hide behind the fact that there was a legal challenge concerning the awarding of the contract. The common good and the good of the people in that community should have been served by the Government deciding to plough on with the project and face the consequences of the legal challenge in the courts. That is the sort of leadership the Government needs to show in regard to EU directives on habitats and water frameworks. I hope the Government will give a commitment in this vein. The Minister is to meet the Commissioner in the coming weeks or, I hope, the coming days, if he has not done so already. That is the sort of response the Minister needs to be able to announce publicly so people will know where they stand.

I am conscious of the rural development programme and the review mechanisms therein. The Minister should initiate a review of that in order to ensure there are management plans for areas susceptible to flooding, such as the Shannon Callows in my constituency and along the borders of other constituencies. If this were done, we could have a quicker and more meaningful response, and dredging could be part of the solution. However, the type of leadership the Government needs to demonstrate, but which it has shied away from, including by putting in place a quango that is merely a talking shop to get it to the election and beyond, involves the establishment of a single authority with jurisdiction and the power to make decisions and recommendations and enforce Government policy on rectification measures in the Shannon region. During the course of the debate I had with Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, last week, he said this has not yet been ruled out. I want the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to expand on that. Has he ruled it out? When will he make a decision on it? There are people in the Shannon region and the rest of the country who have been waiting too long for a decision in this regard. The spotlight has been placed on it in recent weeks and months. A decision must be made if there is to be an effective and real response that results in solutions.

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