Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Social Democrats is happy to support this motion. It is a good and comprehensive motion which we welcome in as far as it goes. However, it seems that some people speaking on this motion think the world started in 2011 but of course, like everything else in the country, there is a history to this. Some of those historical reasons have led the situation where we are reaping the whirlwind of the failure to take proper, long term planning decisions. That must be borne in mind in this debate.

The reasons for much of our flooding difficulties are further up the food chain and are very much associated with global warming and our failure to play our part in that regard. It is quite clear that as a country we are going to miss most of our targets which will result in us having to pay very substantial fines. Again, that is a result of a lack of long term planning and a commitment to the future. Of course we are not alone in that, by any means. Global warming is the overall reason for what is happening. It is why we are seeing flooding much more frequently and experiencing much more precipitation than would be regarded as normal. The point has been made that Met Éireann is predicting a 14% increase in precipitation by the middle of the century which will pose major problems for this country.

Apart from our failure to play our part in terms of tackling climate change, there is a very serious problem in this country with a lack of any long term planning or adequate investment in the future. It is a little rich to hear some of the comments and contributions from the proposers of this motion given that Fianna Fáil was in power over a long number of years when there was no shortage of funding and the coffers were full but it did not make the investment in infrastructure that was required. Money was spent on lots of things. Money was provided for decentralisation and for this, that and the other - much of it wasted - but there was no proper investment in the key infrastructural areas which are so important.

Following the economic crash, there were severe cutbacks in investment in local authority services which is a major contributory factor to the problems of flooding that we are encountering at the moment. The drastic reduction in staff numbers in local authorities means that rivers and ditches are not being cleared and lots of other work that should be going on is not happening to the same extent as it did in the past and that is certainly contributing to the problem.

The other issue in the context of planning is the fact that there was so much building allowed on flood plains. There was much uncontrolled and unregulated building on flood plains against the advice and wishes of the planners.

The two main parties in this House have to take their share of responsibility for allowing to continue circumstances in which their councillors in local authorities throughout the country are quite happy to propose rezoning in areas totally unsuited to house building. They ignored the professional advice available to them and we are now dealing with the downside. It was absolutely predictable at the time in question. The planners gave their views and said what would inevitably happen. This has come to pass in many areas in which we are now seeing serious flooding.

Another point on planning is that we are not strict enough in respect of one-off facilities in urban areas. We are seeing more and more land being covered by cobblelock and other hard surfaces. This means that areas in which there were previously very few problems with flooding are now experiencing it if there is heavy rain. This issue should be dealt with through planning. We should ensure there are soft surfaces and adequate soakage in gardens by way of lawns, flower beds and other such soft surfaces. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. There are entire housing estates in which there is hardly a blade of grass. They have hard surfaces everywhere, including on all paths and in all front gardens. Many of the back gardens also have hard surfaces. Again, we are paying the price for this. Flooding in urban areas is becoming much more common.

There are serious problems in getting insurance cover from any company. I hope this issue will be examined by the Government in a serious way because insurance costs have gone through the roof. They very much add to the cost of living. For people living in areas that have recently been prone to flooding, it is impossible to get insurance cover. This issue needs to be addressed by the Government.

In urban areas there can also be a problem in being insured against flooding. I have seen this in my constituency. There have been problems after heavy rain, with a run-off from hard surfaces in the main. Several dozen houses have been seriously damaged in recent years. In spite of the fact that the city council has taken remedial action in one area and built a very substantial swale which is expected to deal with the problem, the insurance companies are refusing to provide insurance cover. I pursued this issue with some of them. The Minister of State might take up the point that some insurance companies are stating they will not insure against flooding unless there is certification by the OPW that remedial action has been taken. In city areas it is very often the local authority that is responsible for taking ameliorative measures, but insurance companies will not accept certification from it. That issue needs to be addressed at ministerial level. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State gave it his attention.

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