Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the motion and I commend Deputy Charlie McConalogue for bringing it forward. First, I want to extend my sympathies to the people of Donegal whose homes, farms and businesses have been destroyed in recent flash flooding. I have seen numerous times the destruction caused by unprecedented levels of flooding in my own constituency of Cork South-West. In 2015 towns such as Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen, and communities like Ballylickey, were torn apart by flooding causing tens of thousands of euro worth of damage. Many of my constituents are still struggling to restore their farms, homes and businesses to their pre-2015 state.

I welcome that a €10 million flood relief scheme for Bandon town is being advanced by the OPW in partnership with Cork County Council. This scheme will help alleviate serious flooding of Bandon although it will take a number of years for the scheme to go through feasibility, planning and procurement processes and construction prior to becoming operational. I note such schemes have been successful in towns such as Clonmel, County Tipperary, and plans for similar schemes are ongoing in Skibbereen, Clonakilty and other areas of west Cork. For that reason, I am urging the Government to find and allocate the funds to establish adequate flood defences in every city, town and village in the country.

I have raised in the Dáil previously the issue of insensitive insurance companies increasing premiums and denying policies to my constituents, and this is again very relevant as it is estimated that over 50,000 people in Ireland are without flood insurance. The reality is that it is not those who live on the top of mountains who are rejected for flood insurance cover but those who live in vulnerable areas and whose houses have been flooded previously. Failure to obtain adequate flood insurance is holding back local economies as banks will not provide small businesses loans to help them reach their potential due to the threat of floods.

It is an absolute disgrace that insurance companies are able to deny home and business owners such cover, or price them out of their means where cover is granted. This is another reason the Government needs to put pressure and stricter regulations on the insurance industry in Ireland.

Council workers, volunteers and those in the emergency services are owed a great deal for their hard work in these situations. These people stayed out day and night to clear roads, drains and assist those in flooded properties in an effort to restore normality as soon as possible. Their work must be recognised and commended.

The reality of the issue is that as our climate changes, this type of adverse weather will become more and more common. Our Government needs to be in a position to act immediately to provide aid to flooded areas. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is well aware of the damage that flooding can cause. He has seen it first-hand in his constituency and his town of Athlone. In fairness to the Minister of State, he visited the areas in west Cork since he took over his Ministry and when he was not long in the office. He spent the time with the people of Bandon, Skibbereen and Clonakilty. The Minister of State came back again to the people of west Cork and at ten o'clock at night he sat in the armchairs with those people who had suffered floods in Ballylickey and Castletownbere, and he caught up with the constituents. That went down very well with the people, to see that the Minister of State had the passion and the compassion for them, and the good intention to turn it around when they saw devastation.

I will conclude by stating my support once again for this motion. Once the repairs to the affected areas in Donegal are completed, however, let us not wait for another town in the country to be destroyed by extreme and unprecedented floods.

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