Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, for being here and I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for introducing this motion. It is greatly appreciated. Fianna Fáil has introduced the motion to highlight the pressing need for further work across a wide range of areas related to flooding. We cannot allow the memories of last year simply to fade away without learning from them and implementing the lessons. From flood insurance and operational management of the River Shannon to ensuring full investment in capital flood defences, the Government must step up to the mark. The full commitment of €430 million through a six-year programme of capital investment in flood defence measures announced as part of the Government's overall capital investment plan for 2016 to 2021 should be realised.

This week last year, Storm Desmond arrived in this country and brought with it a toll of destruction. We are still talking about it and picking up the cost of it. It impacted home owners, business owners, farmers and commuters. As Deputy Eugene Murphy said, home owners had to leave their homes and business owners did not have commuters coming through their towns. I refer in this regard to Portumna, where I live, on the N65. In Carrigahorig, in north Tipperary, the road was closed from 9 December until the middle of January. We lost all the Christmas trade because, with the diversions in place and attempts to find a suitable road, people had the chance to go to Birr instead of Portumna. When I talk about commuters, I refer to the N18 at Ardrahan and Laban, the road by which people had to travel from Galway to Limerick. On 28 December, the road closed and it did not open again until the middle of February. People were discommoded, were financially at a loss and suffered. They still live in fear.

Talk is not a solution. Building up roads and giving permission to the county councils to deal with the matter are not solutions. We need real solutions. Thanks to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, the OPW has moved from a seven-year work schedule to a five-year schedule. However, people need to know very clearly the plans for the future. They need to know through proper consultation where they are going with their plans. The people who live in Carrigahorig are still waiting to hear what will happen in north Tipperary. The people in Portumna are still waiting to hear when we will get approval for our floodgate. The people in Laban and Ardrahan are wondering what will happen to the swallow holes. We have had the success of the Dunkellan flood relief works, which have been ongoing for a significant number of years, but we should not have to wait another 40 years for the problems of south Galway to be sorted.

It was regrettable this time last year when the rain fell on us that we did not call it a state of emergency. If a state emergency had been called then, many of the works might have been completed. We could have worked as the waters receded and marked the water levels going back. While the diggers were in Cahermore, maybe they could have followed the river all the way to Coole and we could have eventually got the water to the sea, which is what was required. Yet these people must live wondering when it will happen again.

We have been lucky so far. We have got to 13 December and we have passed the magic date of 9 December. However, it is only a matter of time before the rain comes again, and the floods will rise more quickly this time than ever. Unfortunately, although some of the works were carried out, we built roads and dams but we did not deliver solutions. This is not what the people deserve. This is not how taxpayers' money should be spent. We should deliver solutions. As Deputy Eugene Murphy said, the Minister of State is from my constituency. He understands the issue all too well. He was very involved in flood relief last year. We need to see delivery of solutions out of the €32 million spent on CFRAM. There is no point in having money and reports unless we are prepared to put them into action. Taking the Athlone flood defence plan out of the CFRAM process and leaving the other areas in is not good enough for the other people living along the banks of the Shannon. I ask the Minister of State to review this.

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