Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A fellow from Falcarragh said to me in the aftermath of the freak weather incident in Inishowen that the response was politics in action. That is not about Government but local politics. I acknowledge all members of the municipal district in Inishowen who provided an invaluable on-the-ground resource in terms of intelligence gathering. I acknowledge the work of my own colleagues, councillors Bernard McGuinness and John Ryan. That kind of response was very much in evidence. I acknowledge Seán Hogan and his team and the interdepartmental work that they did. They showed leadership and were on the phones to the team at Donegal County Council within hours of the flood. That was so important. The arrival of different personnel was vital for the integrated and responsive nature of what needed to be done, including the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, who ensured her staff were out on the ground making sure people could access information about the humanitarian assistance grants in phases 1, 2 and 3.

The Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, met her staff to ensure they were on the ground meeting people and making sure they could access information on humanitarian assistance and on the first three phases of the operation. The Minister, Deputy Creed, rang me on the morning in question to tell me he was ready to come up, but did not want media coverage. He wanted to find out what was going on, so he met officials from Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as part of the assessment. The Minister, Deputy Ross, could not believe his eyes when he saw that many bridges, some of which were constructed over 200 years ago, were gone due to the devastation. That was important from an intelligence point of view.

I want to acknowledge the pivotal role played by the Army in providing shoulder-to-shoulder support to people in very vulnerable positions. The day after this horrible horror event, people were in shock and were experiencing trauma. They needed people to be with them. On behalf of the people of Inishowen and the rest of County Donegal, I thank the young and not-so-young members of the Defence Forces who provided support by lifting blocks, gathering trees from rivers and cutting trees that were blocking bridges. We can all learn lessons. There are things we could have done better. There are things we can do better in the future. If this happens again, we need to ensure we repeat the things we did well on this occasion.

There are outstanding long-term issues. We can always learn. The rivers still need to be cleaned. At the moment, Donegal County Council is assessing who shoulders the responsibility for the rivers. It is considering whether it should carry out these works itself. I know officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are liaising closely with Donegal County Council as they work on these issues. The people from Inishowen who responded ensured nobody died that night. They ensured there were no tragedies and no funerals. They did the proper thing. I suppose it is the natural thing that Irish people do. When others were in trouble, they responded in a proactive way.

In addition to the colleagues I mentioned, I would like to thank the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Griffin. I also thank the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy D'Arcy, who came up to ensure insurance issues, etc., were dealt with. There will be long-term legacy issues. As Deputy Eugene Murphy said, in order to fully understand this issue, one needed to be there to see the destruction. On a personal note, I acknowledge my colleagues, the Minister of State, Deputy English, and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. I thank the officials in the Custom House for their constant engagement and their constant updates to ensure the right thing was done.

I appreciate that some farmers have outstanding issues. We are continuing to liaise to see what we can do. On a personal note, I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, who was there on the first day along with his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ross. It was really important to have the presence of somebody with experience who had been through this before and was able to assure people that they would get through this. On a personal level, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for his invaluable insight and contribution during those early hours.

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