Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I compliment all those involved in the response to the recent spate of flooding, including county council staff, the Civil Defence, gardaí, the Red Cross, Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue, the Army, volunteers, residents affected by the flooding and their neighbours, and the fire service. There was significant flooding in Tipperary right along the Suir catchment from Carrick-on-Suir back to Kilsheelan, to Clonmel, Marlfield, Knocklofty, Newcastle, Ardfinnan and Goatenbridge, and also in north Tipperary in the part of the Shannon catchment there. Flood defences in Clonmel worked well, although there were a number of small exceptions to that. These were traumatic for the families involved whose houses were flooded. As an example, Mrs O'Brien in Kilganey just outside Clonmel is flooded for the ninth time. On Bridge Street a small number of houses were affected, as was the area of Kilmacomma just outside the town, which was almost completely cut off from the town for a number of days. What is needed now is a full assessment of the situation county-wide and countrywide to ensure that we are ready for any further flooding, which is inevitable. We must consult with those who have been affected by the flooding. They are the people who know what happens. They know how flooding should be dealt with. Their advice and guidance should be sought specifically in the reviews. We have to examine what happened, how it happened, how the various services responded, what was done well and what could have been done better. There is no doubt that this needs to be done urgently.

I must mention the condition of the roads, particularly county roads across Tipperary.

I drove the high road at Kilmacomma on the Saturday night of the flood. Doing that was dangerous because the road was effectively a stream in full flow and had been undermined. Many roads across the country are in a similar condition. We need to get back the €430 million that the Government gave to Irish Water out of the road tax fund if we are to ensure that these roads are brought up to standard, rebuilt and maintained properly. This must be done urgently.

The availability of staff to local authorities is a further issue. Moratoriums and cutbacks in staff numbers in recent years have brought about a situation in which we do not have enough people to maintain inlets, dykes, gullies, drains and the road network properly and thereby prevent avoidable flooding. I appeal to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to include the N24 in the roads capital programme, which was published a number of months ago. The N24 is a key economic and social road for County Tipperary and links the mid-west to the south east. It was impassable at four locations during the flooding. It is a national primary road.

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