John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted the Ceann Comhairle chose this issue and thank him for doing so. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, for being here. The Topical Issue concerns flood relief, particularly on the south Kilkenny bank of the River Suir. My part of the world is blessed with many things, including many rivers, which have many beneficial effects in terms of tourism and scenery, but one of the problems with major rivers that has affected all parts of the country in the last few years is flooding. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is still relatively new to his position and I wish him well in it. There is an ambitious programme that is partly under way at present and that I hope will get fully under way over the next few months in terms of relieving flooding across the country. In my own part of the world, Inistioge, Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh were badly affected by the flooding earlier this year. They are part of the Department's CFRAM scheme, which will see progress.

Today, I raise the issues of two small Suir tributaries in south Kilkenny, namely, the Pill River in Pilltown, from where it gets its name, and Portnascully Pill in Mooncoin, which are very substantial local tributaries and cause a significant degree of flooding, not just to farmland but also to houses and property. In the case of both rivers in the most recent flooding events, a number of families had to leave their homes, some for the very first time. I suppose it is symptomatic of a wider problem across the country that many of our smaller rivers and streams are overgrown and have not seen any measures to alleviate flooding for many years. I know that the situation is complicated and complex in that there may be European directives and national law which limit the amount of work in some cases that can be carried out.

The problem with these two rivers is that the local authority in Kilkenny has submitted plans and has not received, as I understand it, any word yet from the OPW. I hope that in his response, the Minister of State might have at least some timeframe. I have always found that people are not unrealistic, in particular rural people affected by flooding, and they know these things take time. However, they expect they will be given an indication as to when some flood relief measures may be put into place. I hope the Minister of State will have at least a timeframe for these two communities in south Kilkenny which have suffered great distress in the last number of serious flooding events, with people forced to leave their homes, as I said already.

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