Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the last 24 hours or so, we have heard phrases such as "aftermath" and "clean-up" being used liberally in the media to describe the flooding challenges pertaining at the moment. We are not even close to discussing the aftermath or clean-up in south Galway. We are still in an emergency as we speak. There are still approximately 30 families out of their homes, farmyards remain under water and farmers' stocks have been flung to all corners of south Galway and across the farms of their helpful and supportive neighbours. Approximately 15 to 16 million cubic meters of water over and above the 2009 flood levels in south Galway have yet to make their way to the sea. One family living close to Gort and within one mile of their local primary school must currently undertake a 66-mile journey to get to that school every day due to the blockage of 36 roads in south Galway which is making them impassable. One might expect these issues to ebb away slowly over the next week or so, but that is not the case. The history and topography of the area dictates that these challenges will continue to be faced by the community until at least mid-March.

Having recorded that we are far from over the emergency in south Galway, I thank all of those who have been so helpful and who have given their time, expertise and wisdom to communities across south Galway over the last month or so since the flooding challenge began. I thank Galway County Council, the OPW, the Civil Defence, the Army, the Air Corps, the staff of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the HSE, community welfare officers and the IFA, for many of whom Christmas was, in effect, cancelled. They worked on and through Christmas to support those who were adversely affected. Many of the families whose homes are flooded knew what lay ahead, having been flooded in 2009 and 1995. They had seen and felt the devastation, anguish and strife and knew it was coming again. They could do little or nothing to prevent it. I thank the Taoiseach, who spent eight hours with us in south Galway last Saturday, travelling from Craughwell across the region to meet with the families who have been so adversely affected and to hear, perhaps more importantly, of the solutions that are now available to us. It is to those solutions that I want to make particular reference now.

I will read to the House a quote from a discussion held here 55 years ago. Deputy Michael Carty, who was representing south Galway at the time, asked the Minister for Finance "when a scheme for the drainage of the Dunkellin catchment area, County Galway, is likely to receive consideration under the Arterial Drainage Act 1945". The response from the Minister, James Ryan, was:

I cannot say at present when the Dunkellin catchment can be reached in the drainage programme. Its turn is coming but it will be a few years yet.

Thankfully, its turn has come 55 years later in 2015. There is now an allocation of €6 million for the Dunkellin flood relief project and we are awaiting a decision from An Bord Pleanála, which is due to issue at the end of February. Once that is out of the way, we are ready to go. The OPW has committed to carrying out the project using direct labour, so that there will not be any long and bureaucratic tendering process to go through. The OPW is ready to move onto the site once the permission is granted. That will serve to address a large number of the issues occurring across south Galway. Not only will it relieve the situation in Craughwell, Ardrahan and Labane, but it will help a far wider region. A number of smaller tributaries and streams flow into the Dunkellin river and all the way out to the sea at Kilcolgan.

There is another challenge that we face. The Taoiseach was particularly interested to hear of the solution to this when he visited us last Saturday. There is a massive tract of water from Coole to Kiltartan and Cahermore which goes out to the sea at Kinvara. The solution presenting itself to us right now is to link up these three massive bodies of water with small drainage channels to allow water as it accumulates in these areas to drain slowly to the sea and, if necessary, to control its flow. We are not suggesting and never for a moment have suggested compromising in any way the integrity of the habitats in these areas. Rather, we seek to put in place measures that would serve to remove excess water when it occurs at times of very heavy rainfall. We have solved in the problem in Gort, which did not flood this time due to the engineering works carried out in the immediate aftermath of 2009. However, in essence, we moved the challenge and the massive volume of water on to areas west of Gort and towards the sea. A solution presents itself and we must act swiftly and decisively to ensure it is implemented. We must look urgently at how to deliver flood relief defences in the long term. While the OPW is adequately resourced, it needs to look at the mechanisms whereby they are delivered.

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