Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Murphy for tabling the motion. On the issue of flooding, I am most concerned about the River Shannon catchment and I have huge problems with the CFRAM proposal. Officials have gone around the country and consulted all the stakeholders but then have come back with a suggestion to build walls. Anyone looking at this objectively would have to acknowledge that while there may be a case to build walls in some areas, it is absurd to offer that as the main solution. Somebody wrote a letter to the Leitrim Observer a few months ago in which he said the proposal was the same as filling a bath and saying the only way to stop it overflowing is to build walls around it rather than pull the plug. Every other country in Europe has river maintenance boats which travel up and down rivers and when they come to a logjam, the eyes of a bridge, or the narrow parts of a river where vegetation is growing and interfering with the flow of water, they clean them and cut back the vegetation. That is what needs to happen. The entire River Shannon does not need to be dredged but parts of it need to be dealt with adequately and the only way to do that is to put the funding in place not just for a once-off large scheme but for a continuous programme of maintenance. This should be done not only for the Shannon but for all our rivers. If that is done, flood risks will be removed.

The motion is primarily about insurance. Insurance companies have a perfect excuse for charging exorbitant prices or for offering no insurance if rivers are not cleaned. While some people will say this, that or the other cannot be done from an environmental point of view, rivers will recover quickly if they are properly cleaned. Bottlenecks and logjams need to be removed and I urge the Minister of State to put the funding in place to get that work done first before he starts building walls. The building of the walls will be grand for the builders and the large contractors who will make a fortune but that will not solve the problem. The problem will only be solved when bottlenecks are removed and the channel from the source of the river to the sea is as free flowing as possible. There has to be adequate management to ensure, particularly coming into the winter, that locks are at their lowest level to keep the water level as low as possible. This can be done but it will require investment. People who say it will cost a fortune are way off the mark. A long-term plan is needed to maintain all our rivers, including the Shannon and the Erne. If that is implemented properly, this problem can be resolved.

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