Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge the incredible work of the volunteers, the Civil Defence, the council staff and the Army during this particularly difficult time. They have been involved in the erection of sandbags, manning pumps and transporting neighbours who were cut off. There really was an incredible sense of solidarity and I acknowledge the work done.

We are faced with a complex issue and there is no simple solution. This is why, earlier today, I brought forward legislation which would put on a statutory basis a single agency to deal with the maintenance and protection of the River Shannon in future. During the debate, the Taoiseach sought to ridicule my proposals. He said a similar Bill was brought forward in the early 2000s. That is right and I do not deny it, but nothing has happened since then. What we should be doing is debating legislation that would put on a statutory basis a way for us to ensure that this will never happen again.

I have no wish to see this as simply a box-ticking exercise or a way for people to say we allowed five hours of debate in the Dáil for disgruntled Deputies to have their say. Instead, I want to see real and concrete consequences and solutions coming out of this debate.

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, who came to Athlone and engaged with the people. He let them know that he was coming, unlike some of his colleagues. I wish to raise a number of issues to which I hope he will directly allude in his reply to the debate. Why did it take six weeks for the Army to intervene in Athlone? Volunteers, who wanted to do the work, worked 24-7 and were exhausted from the work they had to do, should not have been required to carry out such work. Our Army has the capacity, capability and willingness to deal with emergency situations. It was an emergency situation and the Army should have been called in at a much earlier date.

I refer to compensation for small businesses, an issue that was raised directly with the Minister of State, the Taoiseach and other Ministers. Why are legitimate business owners, who are tax compliant, have worked hard to make a business for themselves and are self-employed, being refused compensation under the Red Cross scheme? Owen Egan appeared on RTE news last night and last week. He provides employment, but has lost his income because of the flooding that has taken place. He has suffered serious damage to his property, but has been refused compensation, as have others such as Thomas Cleary and Patricia Doyle-Turley. Such people met members of the Government who promised them that the issue would be resolved. It has not been resolved, and it is not good enough or fair to claim that it has been.

People have battled for seven weeks to keep water out of their homes, given up days of work and incurred extra expenses such as ESB bills for powering pumps and buying additional fuel. Burdens have been imposed on such people, including those in Longford or Athlone. Community welfare officers are telling such people they are not entitled to compensation or funding. If people did nothing and allowed water to stream through their houses, they would have been put up in hotels for a couple of weeks and then given €5,000 or €10,000 to repair their homes. Such an approach is not good enough. The people to whom I have referred deserve compensation and I want to hear what the Minister of State has to say about what he will do about that.

What priority is being given to ensuring that councils have appropriate funding for clean up work and the necessary repairs to roads that have been adversely affected over the past number of weeks? When will councils have the necessary funding made available to them? It is not fair that people who are living under these conditions will simply have their property taxes deferred. They should be exempt from property tax until such time as flood defence mechanisms are put in place.

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