Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:"notes:

— that a pluvial rainfall event on the evening of 22nd August, 2017, gave rise to sudden and devastating flooding which affected the north-west, and in particular the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal where homes, businesses, farms, community facilities and infrastructure were badly damaged;

— the immediate and effective response of the emergency services in the areas affected, with their initial focus on rescues and protecting lives of those threatened by the flash flooding which occurred;

— the immediate and effective response led by Donegal County Council, the designated lead agency for responding to flooding events, working with the other principal response agencies, in accordance with pre-established emergency management procedures, during the flooding and in its immediate aftermath to safeguard and facilitate persons in the area affected and to enable communities to continue to function;

— the effective clean-up and roads restoration/diversion operations mounted in the aftermath of the event by Donegal County Council in co-ordination with the communities affected, and assisted by the Defence Forces, voluntary groups and local organisations, and that the elected members oversaw the response, clean-up and recovery operations of Donegal County Council;

— that a range of humanitarian support schemes, including the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for householders, the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Animal Welfare Helpline and Emergency Feed Provision, were activated and that local officials of the relevant organisations have worked in close co-ordination with Donegal County Council to assist those impacted by the flooding and, as demand-led schemes, are fully underwritten by Government commitment;

— that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is liaising with a number of sporting clubs in the area impacted by the flooding but whose damage is deemed to be outside the terms of the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme;

— that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection activated its standing scheme for emergency humanitarian assistance on Thursday morning, 24th August, 2017, and that the Department’s representatives were on the ground from 23rd August, 2017, working with Donegal County Council to identify and make contact with those affected;

— that on 6th September, 2017, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine announced a measure to support the small number of farmers who bore the brunt of the severe flooding experienced in the Inishowen area; support will be provided to those who experienced losses of livestock, the loss of conserved fodder (hay or silage) and as a contribution towards the clean-up cost of agricultural lands, including repair to fences, damaged by debris washed up by the floods;

— that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine commenced payments to farmers under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme from last week and that it has secured permission from the European Commission to make an advance payment of 70 per cent of the Basic Payment Scheme from 16th October, 2017;

— that discussions on risk mitigation measures in the agriculture sector are expected to form part of deliberations at European Union level on the next Rural Development Programme;

— that the application forms for the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies were available on their website on 30th August, 2017;

— that the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies relies on receiving damage assessments from business owners and that a period of time is required following the flooding event to allow for an initial appraisal of the extent of the damage to businesses to take place;

— the Government commitment to support both those affected and the public authorities who have been working in the recovery phase, and that Donegal County Council are still working to complete an estimate of the clean-up costs and the damage caused by the flooding to roads infrastructure at more than 630 sites, and that, given the exceptional nature of the response activities carried out by Donegal County Council, and the fact that the costs of these activities could not be met from within existing resources, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is making support available to assist the Council in meeting the costs of the response, clean-up and necessary immediate works related to the flooding and that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Office of Public Works (OPW) are also liaising with Donegal County Council about works in their areas of competence;

— that Donegal County Council, as the lead agency for recovery, continues to manage and co-ordinate damage assessments and that consideration of further response and remediation options is still ongoing;

— that flooding events can result from tidal, fluvial, pluvial or groundwater conditions (or combinations of these) and that the flooding event in County Donegal was as a result of an extreme pluvial event of a type which could affect any part of the country and for which it is not possible to accurately provide specific forecasts (location and timing) with any appreciable lead-time;

— the appropriateness and effectiveness of the local emergency management system in place, derived from the ‘Framework for Major Emergency Management’, with the relevant local authority acting as ‘lead agency’ to both deliver immediate response, clean-up and recovery operations, with local political accountability, and to co-ordinate the principal response agencies, the Defence Forces and the voluntary and community sector in responding to emergencies of all kinds in their areas;

— that, in its role as lead Government Department, in accordance with ‘Strategic Emergency Management, A National Framework and Structures’ the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management liaised closely, appropriately and effectively with Donegal County Council from the morning of 23 August, 2017, co-ordinated national level support for Donegal County Council and dealt with emerging issues for those impacted by the flooding, and that, in line with best practice in the aftermath of events of this kind, a review of the County Donegal experience is being carried out as part of the programme of ongoing development of emergency management capability within the local government sector;

— that the OPW has completed 39 major flood defence schemes since 1995 that are providing protection to approximately 8,000 properties with an estimated benefit to the country of damage avoided of over €1 billion; that construction continues on 10 major flood defence schemes and design and development for a further 25 is underway that will provide protection to 12,000 properties when all are completed; that up to seven major schemes are currently anticipated to commence in the next 12 months; and that a further investment of €33 million in minor works since 2009 is protecting 6,000 properties across the country;

— the OPW’s proactive flood risk planning, through the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme in the past number of years is nearing completion following review and assessment of the extensive response to the public consultation on the draft Flood Risk Management Plans which provided constructive and wide-ranging observations and comments, and by the end of this year the final Flood Risk Management Plans will be published setting out the proposed structural measures to be advanced through to detailed design to protect at risk communities and properties and the Government’s commitment to more than double the annual allocation for flood defence schemes in the next five years from €45 million to €100 million to deliver the existing and proposed pipeline of projects;

— the publication of the Interim Report of the Interdepartmental Flood Policy Co-ordination Group in 2016, recommending policies and measures to Government that would reduce the impact of flood risks on individuals and communities, dealing with a range of issues including a voluntary homeowners relocation scheme and that Dutch experts ‘have benchmarked (Ireland’s) approach to flood risk management and concluded that Ireland is in line with international best practice and is well on track’;

— the Government strategy for improving the availability of flood insurance cover includes prioritising spending on flood relief measures by the OPW and relevant local authorities, and improving channels of communication between the OPW and the insurance industry in order to reach a better understanding about the provision of flood cover in protected areas, complemented as necessary by targeted State emergency humanitarian assistance after flood events and that the success of this approach is evidenced by the increase in the availability of flood insurance in areas where flood defences have been installed, both fixed and demountable, with recent survey results showing that overall, 83 per cent of property insurance policies in protected areas include cover against flood risk and where the defences are permanent in nature it is 90 per cent; and

— that the OPW maintains Arterial Drainage schemes completed since 1945 on in excess of 11,500 kilometres of channels which benefits approximately 650,000 acres (265,400 hectares) of land, that the maintenance of Drainage Districts is the responsibility of local authorities and that, while maintenance of rivers and other watercourses has some benefit to prevent the deterioration of channel conveyance capacity, river maintenance would have had no beneficial effect on the extreme flooding event experienced in County Donegal."

I thank the Deputies for proposing the motion. It addresses an area which is of particular interest to me and my colleagues in government. That is why I have the Ministers of State, Deputies McHugh and Moran, beside me. It is an area that affects all of government and our approach to scenarios like this is an all-of-government and all-agency approach. That is how we try to handle things. This is an issue which is devastating for those unfortunate enough to be caught by the forces which nature can unleash, as it did in Donegal last month. It is nature and we are trying to handle and deal with it although we cannot always predict it. We do our best to react as quickly as we can.

At the outset, I would like to place on the record of the House our concern for all those who were affected by the devastating flooding which took place on the evening of 22 August 2017 and into the morning of the next day. Fortunately, no lives were lost in this event, although very severe damage was caused. Those affected have had to work hard to try to bring normality back into their lives. For some, despite the best efforts of all involved, restoring pre-flood conditions is going to take longer. My Department is the lead Department with responsibility for flooding response and several other emergency scenarios. The national directorate for fire and emergency management within my Department has the mandate to co-ordinate emergency response at national level and to liaise with and support the local response, which is led by the relevant local authority in the case of flooding such as happened in Donegal.

Flooding can arise in four different situations: tidal, fluvial, groundwater and pluvial, like the rainfall event on the evening of 22 August 2017 that gave rise to sudden and devastating flooding which affected the north west, and in particular the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal where homes, businesses, farms, community facilities and infrastructure were very badly damaged. I am happy that the Private Members' motion gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the immediate and effective response of the emergency services in the areas affected, with their initial focus on rescue and protecting the lives of those threatened by the flash flooding which occurred.

I am glad as Minister of State at the Department with responsibility for local government that all sides have praised the local government system in Donegal for how it responded in the hour of need. The local elected members of Donegal County Council, along with the local authority management, oversaw the response, clean-up and recovery operations of the local authority. Donegal County Council staff set to work immediately with the other principal response agencies, in accordance with pre-established emergency management procedures, during the flooding and in its immediate aftermath to safeguard and facilitate persons in the area affected and to enable communities to continue to function. In doing so, they were working with their own communities, providing an immediate response for the emerging situations, closing roads, diverting traffic and supporting people in every way that was needed.

The initial response by Donegal County Council transitioned into the clean-up and roads diversion operations mounted in the aftermath of the event in co-ordination with the communities affected and assisted by the Defence Forces, voluntary groups and other local organisations. A range of humanitarian support schemes were activated, including the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme for householders; the Irish Red Cross humanitarian assistance scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies; and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s animal welfare and emergency feed provision. Local officials of the relevant organisations have worked in close co-ordination with Donegal County Council to assist those impacted by the flooding. These schemes operate within parameters which have been evolved from the experience of previous events. They are demand-led schemes and are fully underwritten by Government commitment.

Several members of the Government, including those with specific areas of responsibility, visited Donegal to see for themselves the reported devastation and to show support for those affected and the public authorities who have been working in the recovery phase. Donegal County Council is still working to complete an estimate of the clean-up costs and the damage caused by the flooding to roads infrastructure at more than 630 sites. My Department wrote to Donegal County Council on 4 September 2017, acknowledging the exceptional nature of the response activities carried out by Donegal County Council. In recognition of the fact that the costs of these activities could not be met from within existing resources, my Department is making support available to assist in meeting the costs of the response, clean-up and necessary immediate works related to the flooding. This is in furtherance of the Government’s commitment to continuation of the support that has been provided to local authorities to undertake unprogrammed works associated with this type of emergency event. My colleagues in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the OPW are also liaising with Donegal County Council about works in their areas of competence.

As I noted earlier, flooding events can result from tidal, fluvial, pluvial or groundwater conditions, or combinations of these, and the flooding event in Donegal was a result of an extreme pluvial event of a type which could affect any part of the country. We are conscious of that and it has been highlighted at our own meetings. The House will appreciate that it is simply not possible to forecast where such events may occur and neither is it possible to defend property against this type of event in the way it is possible sometimes to protect those living near rivers, where flooding is more predictable.

Returning to my Department’s main area of responsibility which is the response to flooding events, the key issue of the emergency response therefore, the appropriateness and effectiveness of the local emergency management system currently in place is derived from the framework for major emergency management which was adopted as Government policy in 2006. The relevant local authority acts as lead agency to deliver immediate response, clean-up and recovery operations, with local political accountability for its effectiveness in the first instance. The local authority also co-ordinates the efforts of the other principal response agencies, namely, the Defence Forces and the voluntary and community sector in responding to emergencies of all kinds in their areas.

Although I do not have time to finish my whole speech, I would say that we learn from every emergency event to enhance our approach. The House will be interested to learn that today in Tullamore the national directorate convened a workshop attended by the relevant key crisis management staff of all local authorities to review the Donegal flooding experience and to update our activities and learn from the events. We are constantly striving to achieve best practice. The framework was set down in 2006 and is an evolving procedure. I will hand over to my colleague, Deputy McHugh.

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