Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have proposed this Topical Issue four times in the past three weeks. We have been trying to get the Minister of State's attention and to talk to him, but he has not acknowledged the Topical Issue or turned up to the Dáil to talk to us until today. I welcome his presence. At least he has attended today to listen to us.

Before I start, I congratulate the Minister of State on his new portfolio and wish him and his family well.

I will get down to business. People around Ireland, including Limerick, are being flooded in places that are not flood plains because of maintenance issues. There has been no maintenance because workers are only being taken on for a season. Recently, I was in Kilmallock, where my constituency office is. We had a flooding issue. The Minister of State was in Cork when it happened because he had to go to Skibbereen. There was a red weather warning and a culvert could not be opened, which meant that Main Street in Skibbereen got flooded. It was another maintenance issue that could have been avoided, but people's premises got flooded.

In Kilmallock, houses were flooded that are not on a flood plain. Is the Office of Public Works, OPW, responsible in this instance or is it a matter for the local authority? The problem is that no maintenance is being done. A couple of days after that flooding incident, we had another high wave and heavy rain and the locations that were already flooded - as I said, they are located in non-flood areas - were flooded again because the gullies and drains had not been cleaned. I have been involved in construction all my life and I grew up on a farm. I know about construction and I know about waterways. If things are not maintained, there will be problems.

Diggers were sent into the Kilmallock area by the OPW but there was only one driver. A 4-tonne digger was dropped on the Charleville Road and a small bit of maintenance was done on a bridge there. We found out later from Cian Ó Donaill that this bridge was not properly constructed in the first place. It was shown as an arch bridge on his map but when he went there, he found two 3 ft 6 in. pipes. This bridge was constructed in 1984 and it has never been maintained other than by the people who live adjacent to it to prevent their houses from being flooded.

The River Loobagh in Kilmallock has not been dredged in 15 years. A house located on the bridge off Orr Street in Kilmallock was flooded twice within a week. The Government sent Derek Higgins down to look at it and he told us there were no problems with the bridge and no problem with the eyebar. Yet when we sent him photographs of it, it became a problem and, in fact, our biggest problem. I am hoping that the Minister of State, as a Limerick man, can resolve these issues. I am not making this personal. My job is to point out the issues to the Minister of State and it is his job to make sure they are addressed. He must take control and ensure the OPW takes on the staff that are needed. Maintenance must be carried out all year round. The Minister of State is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of 11,000 km of waterway.

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