Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving us the go-ahead to raise this matter this evening. I want to join everyone in recent days who has paid tribute to Met Éireann and the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre as well as our local and national media and everyone who was involved in preparing us for the response to Storm Ophelia on Monday.

I extend my sympathies to the families of the three people who, unfortunately, lost their lives during that event. I believe those losses would have been considerably greater were it not for the response, communications and absolute commitment. The staff of Met Éireann deserve particular acknowledgement for their work. We think of all the crews out this afternoon throughout the country repairing the damage done, including crews from ESB, Irish Water and local authority crews etc.

However, we are now on the cusp of a weekend of two significant rain events. We have a status yellow warning in place for Munster, Dublin and a large number of counties around Dublin. Now, we have a status yellow weather advisory in place for the weekend for the whole island. I am concerned that river levels throughout the country are far higher than they would normally be at this time of year because of the wet summer and the events of recent weeks. While Storm Ophelia was not necessarily a rain-led event, water levels did rise considerably during Monday. There is now nowhere for any excess water to go. This will result in significant and severe flooding either this weekend or at some stage during the course of the winter. What plans are in place to deal with that?

It continues to be a source of enormous frustration in my area and places like Crossmolina that the OPW will not clean riverbeds and will not do basic maintenance on parts of the River Deel in a manner that was done years ago before we had the technology available now. That was done regularly and ensured a water flow.

The basics of ensuring the drains are cleaned of leaves need to be dealt with, especially after Monday's tree falls and the number of leaves that fell on Monday. Have local authorities in all areas affected by weather advisories ensured that drains were kept clear? It seems that many blockages on roads come from small things not being done properly. Particularly in a week where our local authorities are stretched, we want to make sure that work gets done, not just tomorrow but every day in advance of what is going to be a difficult winter with regard to weather, but hopefully not with regard to flooding.

The Minister of State is one of the planners for flood defences in the Department. I have raised Crossmolina with him. We are still waiting for information from the OPW about the plans there and similarly for Ballina. All over the country, communities will be afraid tonight and tomorrow of what is to come this weekend. Communities and groups such as the Crossmolina Flood Group are out, as we speak, putting sandbags down, working with Mayo County Council and the OPW staff on the ground trying to put defences in place already ahead of both tomorrow and Saturday. They need to know that they have the support of the Government and that the practical measures that will make their job much easier will be done in advance of the weekend and on an ongoing basis throughout the winter to come.

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