Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister of State's contribution, he said that a single authority would not stop one extra litre from going into a house. The Minister of State is from the same county as me. He remembers the flood last year which destroyed a few houses in Coonagh and Na Piarsaigh GAA club. If we had one statutory authority, that would not have happened. In December 2015, there was a flood in Richmond Park, Corbally, in which 14 houses were destroyed. If we had one statutory authority, that would not have happened either. Both of those floods were man-made and were caused by errors due to not having one statutory authority, as the Minister of State knows. We need to set up one statutory agency with the authority, power and accountability to tackle the flooding on the River Shannon. As Deputy Kerrane mentioned, in 2016, Gerry Adams introduced the River Shannon Management Agency Bill 2016. Unfortunately, it was not progressed.

I represent a city that has suffered cruelly from flooding over the last 20 years. Some of this flooding is due to localised rainfall, burst sewerage and water pipes and failures to clean drains, and has flooded homes in my locality. Other floods unfortunately happen due to mismanagement. I referred to Richmond Park, Corbally, and to Coonagh and to Na Piarsaigh GAA Club. Most of the floods have been caused by rising water levels on the River Shannon itself. The village of Castleconnell is highly vulnerable to high tides. The River Shannon itself is a resource that we must protect. However, it is a resource that we must manage properly. The river is the spine of Limerick city. It runs through the city and is a key geographic divide in the city. Some of the most scenic spots in the city are adjacent to the river. Unfortunately, more often than not, these are the areas most impacted by the nearly annual flooding events.

The Minister of State and Members from Limerick will remember the flooding in King's Island in February 2014. I was a local councillor at the time. Shortly after that, we started to plan for work which has not started yet. I spoke to the council today and it hopes to be on the ground in July 2021. That will be six and a half years after the floods started. They are talking about the possibility of it taking longer than that. It could be eight or nine years after the flood, when the then Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW came to Limerick City and County Council and told us that money would be no problem and that flood defences would be put in. Here we are, eight or nine years later, and the people of King's Island do not have a flood defence. It is an elderly community where people will have a note on their fridges about the time the tide will come in. They are well aware of the tides. People should not have to live like this. I am not saying the Minister of State does not know this, because he does. I have seen him do a good job in some situations in calling for help for people whose homes have been flooded. Seeing people's faces when it happens is depressing. The worst thing is that one frequently sees people who know it will happen again next year and the year after that.

I genuinely believe that we need one statutory authority to manage the River Shannon and to make sure that everyone works together. The crazy stuff that I referred to happening in Limerick would not have happened if there was a single authority. It has been spoken about for a number of years. The Minister of State's party supported it years ago. The Minister of State's amendment of nine months is something that the Government does with everything we have ever brought forward. If the Government thinks it is a good idea, it delays for nine months and unfortunately it does not happen.

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