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

I commend the motion before the House and express the solidarity of everybody in the House about what happened in Donegal where approximately one month's rain fell in three hours. We understand that nobody can prepare for that but I spoke to some people about this who had relatives in Donegal and what concerned them was that they found there was not much co-ordination in the response. I understand the Government is saying there was co-ordination but the experience of some people on the ground was that the response was not as well co-ordinated as it could have been. That is something that can be worked on, and I am sure it will be worked on in the future.

The criticism is that there was not some kind of national emergency plan that could be implemented quickly wherever this type of event happens. We hope it never happens again anywhere but, unfortunately, the likelihood is that it may happen somewhere else again.

The issue of insurance is another problem raised by one of the people I spoke to in the area. In all cases, and most people experience it when they have an insurance claim, the first thing the insurance company tries to do is wrangle out of it in whatever way possible to ensure it will not have to pay. Some of the people who have seen their lives washed away are experiencing that now. They are very angry that when insurance company representatives come out to them they start giving all kinds of reasons this or that is not covered. Some of these people are left wondering if the Government or somebody will step in to help them. That is not to say that help has not come. The Army came and helped people clear their houses and did a lot of other work for them. As has been said, Donegal County Council has been magnificent in the work it has done in the area.

The main point that strikes us all, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, was in my constituency and many other areas around the country in regard to this, is that when these deluges of rain occur we must ensure that the water levels in the rivers are at their lowest possible. One of the problems is that many small drains and rivers throughout the country have not been cleaned in, if not centuries, certainly in decades in many cases. We would encourage the Government to try to put a fund in place for local authorities to clean those small rivers and drains. An example given to me in Donegal was of bridges washed away in cases where the rivers under them had not been cleared in 30 years in some cases. That is part of the problem. If there was a way of moving the flow of water faster, it would make a huge difference in many of these cases.

I suspect the motion put forward will be generally supported by everyone in the House because we all want the same thing. We want to ensure that we have a provision in place so that if this happens again, we will all step up to the mark and the whole of society will feel better about it. However, there are problems that were not dealt with adequately enough, and that needs to be acknowledged.

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