Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that a great deal of the damage caused by the recent floods could have been prevented had successive Governments not indiscriminately slashed public budgets. I welcome the schemes put in place by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, which will help in some way to compensate farmers for fodder lost and so on. Today marks the 75th consecutive day on which rain has fallen and thousands of stories have emerged of the consequences of the flooding that has resulted. Throughout my constituency and in many parts of the country, people are talking not only about what has happened to them but about how they were left to fend for themselves. In many cases, these were people living in dread of flooding after previous experiences. Many of them have noted that floods were a much rarer occurrence in the past, not only because of climate change but also because there were more far more outdoor staff employed by local authorities in earlier decades. Some local authorities have informed us that the numbers of outdoor staff employed by them have been cut by up to 30%. The most basic maintenance carried out by these workers, it now turns out, was very effective flood prevention work. On the other hand, the lack of basic maintenance, like the clearing of culverts and ensuring free flow of water in drains, has had a significant effect. Those of us who are old enough will remember the work local authority staff used to do on country roads. They knew where every culvert was and provided a fantastic service.

There is no doubt that front-line staff in local authorities and emergency services did their utmost to save homes and commercial properties over recent weeks and I commend them on that effort. However, short-sighted austerity measures have had their effect, just as people all over rural Ireland predicted. There is an overwhelming sense in all the flooded areas that the people living there do not matter. When communities predicted flooding due to a combination of various factors, including bad planning decisions, lack of local authority staff and no measures to tackle climate change, no one was listening or taking on board solutions proposed by people in the affected areas. It is late in the day but better late than never for the Government to declare a national emergency and seek assistance from the EU's solidarity fund. National and local plans must be put in place to deal with the aftermath of the flooding and implement prevention measures for future episodes of flooding.

Instead of an effective national plan, however, it seems the only plan the Government had to deal with the crisis that happened over Christmas and the new year was a press plan. The Taoiseach was invisible but there were no shortage of photo calls. At least the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, to give them their due, were visible in affected communities and seeking to reassure people their concerns would be addressed. The same cannot be said for the Taoiseach. Every time I turned on Sky News in recent weeks, there were images of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, in wellington boots visiting all the flooded parts of the north of England. The Taoiseach, on the other hand, only showed up towards the end of the immediate crisis; he was invisible for most of it. The debacle in Thomastown, meanwhile, saw the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, getting into a boat in 6 in. of water for a photo call only to end up on their backsides in the flood. Talk about escaping a sinking ship. What message did that incident send to people? The Tánaiste and Minister of State had smiles on their faces because they got wet while, at the same time, people throughout the country were dealing with homes overwhelmed by flood waters and all their electric appliances such as ovens and fridges being destroyed. At least the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, were actually doing something in the areas they visited. Their efforts were appreciated.

Earlier today, Sinn Féin introduced a Bill to establish a single body to take responsibility for the management of the River Shannon, the assessment of flood risk and the maintenance of flood defences along the river. I have been in this House since 2002. Every year since then, the Shannon has burst its banks and flooded tens of thousands of acres. It has been going on for decades but nothing has been done to alleviate the situation. There has been no plan of action and no intention to establish a single agency and, as a consequence, the same thing continues to happen year in and year out. The Government now proposes to set up a task force to manage flood defences on the River Shannon but has put nothing into law in that regard. The single-agency approach is necessary to carry out the level of work required in the Shannon region, both now and in the future, to ensure proper resources for the job. It must be done under the auspices of the Office of Public Works. The agency would be responsible for the assessment and management of flood risk and flood defences along the River Shannon, co-ordinating the work of key stakeholders in the region and preparing a strategic plan for the management of the river.

Many of the people I spoke to in recent weeks told me that as far as they could see, birds, wildlife and plant life were more of priority for the authorities then they were. One cannot blame them. I had occasion to be in Kilmoyley in recent days, a lovely area with very good farmland. I spoke to a farmer there, Gerard O'Carroll, who has had 20 acres of land under water in each of the past three years and four times in seven years. On each occasion, the land remains under water for at least a month and sometimes up to six or eight weeks, after which he has to rotovate and reseed it in order to feed his cattle. Next door to him is Pádraig Reagan who, on three occasions in seven years, has had his land destroyed by the same flooding. In Tralee, on the occasion of every single flooding event, whether in summer or winter, Danny Dunne's land has been affected. His daughter, who lives next door, had to move out and rent a house elsewhere. Nothing has been done for these people. Just after Christmas, I visited in people in Tralee who were suffering the consequences of the floods. The floodwater in the home of Margaret Hegarty, a woman living on her own, went up four steps of the stairs. The five houses next to hers were likewise destroyed.

This is the reality of what is happening and it is partly the consequence of the Government repeating the mantra that EU directives prevent it from taking adequate action to protect people in their homes and stop their farm land from being destroyed. It is important to put on the record some of the facts about the relevant EU directives and how they relate to flood prevention, or the lack of it. Neither the birds directive nor the habitats directive prohibits flood prevention measures designed to protect life and property. That is the truth of the matter. In fact, those directives provide that in situations of overriding public interest, activities that might damage a Natura 2000 site but which are necessary for human welfare are permitted. The directives do, however, require an assessment of the options available before a conclusion is reached that such damage is unavoidable, as well as a consideration of any compensatory measures that will be taken. The directives also permit derogation from species protection measures in the interests of public safety and for other reasons including socio-economic ones - again, provided no satisfactory alternative is available. To be clear, EU environmental legislation does not prevent action being taken by governments to address the problems of flooding. What it does is provide a framework to ensure the environmental sustainability of any such measures. That reality is set out clearly in the answers given to questions submitted last week by Ms Liadh Ní Riada, MEP.

I spoke recently to an elderly man in his 70s who pointed out to me the river that runs under the bridge on the Castlemaine Road. He told me a person would have to get down on hands and knees to get under the bridge these days. However, he can recall drawing gravel from the river with his father and that as they went under the bridge, they were standing up in the pony and cart. Small rivers and streams like these are causing flooding because the water cannot pass under bridges and is instead flowing out to the land around them. All of that can be dealt with by local authorities or any agency that is set up, and it must be done. We need a political commitment from this Government or the next that the funding will be there and will be managed by an agency with sole responsibility in this area. That will ensure transparency and accountability. Otherwise, things will go on as they have done for the people living on the banks of the River Shannon and other rivers, who have suffered year in and year out. Nothing has been done to help them.

I hope this Government and whatever government replaces it will have learned this lesson: people cannot be taken for granted. We cannot allow a situation where hundreds of people are the victims of political failure to deal with the situation.

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