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

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the issue. It was actually raised with the OPW so I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, because he could not make it on short notice. It affects my Department as well. If I had known on time, I could maybe have brought more information to the Deputy to discuss this but I can certainly add to this conversation directly at a later stage if the Deputy wants. We want to learn from all these events, with a mission to prevent them in the future and to deal with them and every possible scenario. The National Emergency Coordination Centre reviews exactly what happened at a local level and national level and tries to learn from that. We have proven over the years, certainly with Storm Ophelia, that we can address and handle these issues. If there were any failings in the Galway situation, we will learn from and address that.

On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, the Government's behalf and my own, I express my sympathy to the people in Galway who had their houses and businesses flooded recently. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is the lead Department with responsibility for co-ordinating the national emergency response for severe weather events such as storms Ophelia and Eleanor. It has a co-ordinating role across various Departments and agencies when there is a national emergency. In early January, the severe weather assessment team in my Department was actively monitoring forecasts and warning updates from both Met Éireann and the OPW regarding severe weather and tidal conditions.

They linked with the local authorities most likely to be affected regarding their preparedness and the support available at national level, if required. My Department also liaised with relevant agencies in disseminating public safety information messages through broadcast and various social media. Social media and traditional media played a major role in helping us to get the message out with yellow, orange or red warnings relating to Storm Ophelia. I thank them for their support. Like the Deputy, I also thank all the people involved in the response on the ground in the clean-up afterwards and in helping others as well. The process of getting information out is essential as well. We do not always agree with the media in this House but when it comes to weather events, they provide an essential service and I compliment them.

Affected local authorities, including GCC, activated their interagency local co-ordination groups and internal crisis management teams to consider the forecasts and updates regarding Storm Eleanor and the potential threats, including high tides. Every local authority has a local co-ordination group and they meet during these events. The Galway group met twice that night to deal with the outcome and the aftermath. Even with all the warnings and predictions that had been made, the water levels were more than 1 m higher than anyone could have predicted. A sudden change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed of 42 knots between 5 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. combined with the high tide, heavy rainfall the storm surge caused the severe flooding. There was also a full moon leading to high tides. That is why the OPW and Met Éireann were issuing warnings and potential flooding was forecast a few days in advance. GCC crews with assistance from the Defence Forces worked through the night and provided assistance to those affected by flooding, including the provision of pumps, collection of flood damaged contents and provision of dehumidifiers. Staff from other agencies and local residents came together to work hard as well. Everyone chips in to do what they can when these events happen. It is accepted generally that everybody did their job correctly to deal with the flooding aftermath. The Deputy's concern is that it happened in the first place. With all the predictions in the world, we cannot always predict where flooding will hit. Warnings are given but, again, we will review what happened and we will learn from this. A proposal to deal with this was brought to Government after the event on 2 January. The national co-ordinating committee will review the response as well.

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