Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

“That Dáil Éireann:

notes:— the devastating flooding that affected homes, businesses and farmsteads across County Donegal in August 2017;

— that the damage inflicted by the floods on local roads is estimated at €15.3 million;

— the challenges of climate change and increasingly volatile weather patterns; and

— the planned €430 million, six year programme of capital investment in flood defence measures as part of the Government’s overall Capital Investment Plan 2016–2021;acknowledges the hard work of local authority staff, volunteers, Defence Forces personnel and emergency services in assisting those affected by the floods;

criticises:— the delays in the roll out of humanitarian assistance to affected households;

— the one week delay in announcing funding for a Red Cross administered humanitarian fund to help small local businesses, sports clubs and voluntary community groups with application forms not available until ten days after the flooding;

— the failure to confirm a fund to assist the repair of damage to farms until two weeks after the flooding, with application forms not made available until three weeks after the event;

— the exclusion of farmers who have lost grain crops, potato crops and unharvested silage, and damage to agricultural roads from funding;

— the failure to commit to separate funding for sports organisations who experienced significant damage in excess of the €20,000 cap covered by the Red Cross fund;

— the failure to commit to funding for repair and restoration of public amenities such as Swan Park in Buncrana;

— the on-going underspend in flood defence schemes as part of capital expenditure plans;

— the Government decision not to include any provision in Ireland’s Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020 to compensate farmers for losses caused by adverse weather; and

— the continued delays and denials of insurance for homeowners and businesses across the country due to flooding concerns; andcalls on the Government to:— ensure households and businesses are given adequate flood insurance, in particular for those in areas where the Office of Public Works has invested in standard 1 in 100 year flood defence structures, and facilitate the passage of Fianna Fáil legislation on this specific matter;

— address capital underspend in the roll out of investment in flood defences and increase spending in the road infrastructure;

— amend the RDP to encompass specific provisions on supporting farmers affected by adverse weather conditions;

— expand the terms of the funding support scheme for the farming community in County Donegal to include farmers who have lost grain crops, potato crops and unharvested silage, and damage to agricultural roads;

— provide ring-fenced funding to restore sporting facilities and public amenities destroyed in the County Donegal flooding and not covered by the Red Cross fund;

— ensure that steps are taken so that delays experienced in the establishment of funding support schemes in County Donegal are not repeated in future flooding events; and

— fully and expeditiously implement Government commitments to alleviate financial burdens on households, sporting facilities, farmsteads, businesses and infrastructure in County Donegal through the humanitarian assistance fund and specific agricultural supports.”

I thank my party colleagues for agreeing to select this motion on flooding in County Donegal and the lessons to be learned nationally. I hope that following the debate, colleagues across the Dáil will be in a position to support it to ensure it is passed through the House and acted upon by the Government.

I wish to outline my reasons for tabling tonight's motion. It is primarily to ensure that a number of people who are currently excluded from funding support to deal with the aftermath of the funding can be included in the funding schemes. It is also to ensure that some of the delays in rolling out those schemes in response to the flooding in Inishowen are not repeated in the future and that lessons can be learned from that.

Our thoughts continue to be with those who were affected by the flooding which happened this day five weeks ago on 22 August. It primarily affected the Inishowen Peninsula. Although it was a significant event in other parts of the county and other parts of the country, Met Éireann recorded 8 cm of rainfall over a 24-hour period, the vast majority of that in a three to four-hour period in the Inishowen Peninsula. Also badly affected were the neighbouring counties of Derry and Tyrone. From a Republic of Ireland perspective, it particularly affected Inishowen.

On that night many home owners had their homes flooded by water, their possessions destroyed and their homes terribly damaged. Businesses were likewise flooded with their contents destroyed and people's livelihoods put under threat. Likewise many sporting and other voluntary community organisations also suffered significant damage. Many in the farming community experienced loss of stock, and damage to land, farm equipment and crops.

The level of damage was highlighted by a survey carried out by Donegal County Council which showed that over 100 bridges were either washed away or significantly damaged. In total, between bridges and roads over 600 points of damage need to be remedied. There was tremendous destruction in a relatively small part of the country. The bill for infrastructure and the roads is estimated at €15 million according to the survey carried out by Donegal County Council.

In response to that unprecedented flooding, I acknowledge the tremendous effort by members of local communities who had to get out there, roll up their sleeves and come to the aid of their neighbours. With the unprecedented level of the destruction and many different flashpoints, local communities and neighbours really came to the aid of those in distress. I also acknowledge the tremendous work by the emergency services on the night, including the fire brigade, Coast Guard and Donegal County Council staff, in responding to the situation they found. We are thankful that no lives were lost or injuries experienced as a result of the many dangerous situations that unfolded following the tremendous rainfall.

I acknowledge the tremendous work in the aftermath of the flooding in the days that followed by county council workers in trying to get roads and bridges reopened. They really answered the call of duty in a tremendous way. Tremendous work was done to get the peninsula moving and get routes reopened as quickly as possible. I also acknowledge the contribution of the Army in the days that followed and the emergency services on a continuing basis. I also acknowledge the water staff in Donegal County Council and also the members of the local community who fundraised and set up depots for furniture and for equipment to assist home owners.

I also acknowledge the work of the Irish Red Cross in administering the fund that was established and also the social welfare staff for their work in dealing with those who found themselves out of a home. I also acknowledge the many political representatives from Government and from all parties who came to the peninsula, including Deputy Eugene Murphy along with our party leader, the Taoiseach, various Ministers and representatives from other parties who came to view the damage in the days that followed. I acknowledge the commitments made regarding funding and I stress the importance of those being continued and followed through.

We need to learn lessons from the experience of how the event was handled. The motion focuses on two aspects, one relating to the speed with which the various funding assistances and schemes were rolled out and the unnecessary delays that were experienced with them. We need to learn from that and address those issues. The other key aspect of our motion, which I hope will be passed, deals with those people who were excluded from those schemes and calls on the Government to follow through and actually provide funding to those people.

There was a two-day delay in getting the humanitarian assistance fund to support home owners who lost their homes up and running. In future it is crucial that such a fund is in place and ready to be rolled out immediately. When the flood descends and people find themselves without their homes it is crucial that the structures are in place to allow them to get immediate assistance. There was a two-day delay, which is significant when people lose their homes.

The fund administered by the Irish Red Cross, which has a cap of €20,000, was in place to provide financial assistance to sporting organisations, voluntary bodies and businesses. It took a week before the Government confirmed that that fund would be put in place.

It was a further three days after that - a full ten days after the flooding happened - before application forms were available to businesses, sporting organisations and community groups to apply for the funding. The fund provides for an immediate allocation of up to €5,000 for those affected and on further application up to €20,000. However, it was a week before it was announced that a fund of €2 million would be provided, and it was a further two to three days before application forms were available.

One business in particular comes to mind among many that were affected. It was a carpeting and flooring business in Burnfoot which was flooded on the night in question. That is the type of business one would usually expect to benefit from such a situation as people would need to renovate their homes as a result of flood damage, yet the business in question lost all its stock in the flooding and it did not have insurance because of its proximity to the river going through the town. It was ten days before an application form was available to apply for support to restock. Other businesses and sporting organisations had similar experiences.

The motion calls for a funding commitment from the Government to assist sporting organisations that suffered significant damage over and above what can be covered by the Red Cross fund which has a cap of €20,000. Cockhill Celtic soccer club in Buncrana lost two soccer pitches. The pitches were completely wiped out and will have to be relaid. The projected cost is more than €100,000 and we still do not have a funding commitment to support the club five weeks after the flooding incident.

The other key sector which was affected is the agriculture sector. It was two weeks before it was announced that support would be available and it took three weeks for the Government to make application forms available for the relevant fund. The closing date for applications by the farming community is this weekend. It is estimated that up to 300 farms experienced significant damage but they still have not received funding. The motion calls for the terms of reference of the agricultural support scheme to be extended to include certain sections of the farming community that are excluded. I refer, for example, to those who lost grain crops, potato crops or second-cut silage as a result of the flooding. In addition, there was damage to farm roads. One farmer, for example, lost more than 40 acres of barley, yet is entirely excluded from the scheme.

I hope that over the course of this two-hour debate those issues will be properly teased out, that lessons will be learned, this motion will be passed and we will see the Government follow through in terms of extending the various funding schemes I have outlined to ensure that nobody is left behind and that in their time of need the political system will ensure all those affected get the assistance required to get back on their feet and get back to normal life.

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