Dáil debates

Wednesday, 4 November 2020

Flood Prevention Policies: Motion [Private Members]

 

10:40 am

Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his proactive approach to this problem. I know he is acutely aware of how serious it is and that he is extremely personally determined to help and assist around the country. I will be looking to him to help County Kerry in particular.

The horror of flooding and what it means for businesses and families is immeasurable. I will give the example of a great local employer in County Kerry, started by the late Paddy Quill, namely, Quills Woollen Market. The shops are located throughout Kerry, but unfortunately in Kenmare, for instance, its business has been very adversely affected on many occasions by flooding in the square, as have the residents of Scarteen Park. Many homes have been flooded on many occasions and the same has occurred in Sneem. There is a relief scheme, namely, the Kenmare drainage scheme, which in process, but I want to see it expedited and the work starting on the ground.

I compliment those in the local Kenmare area office under the stewardship of Kieran O'Halloran and the great Jackie Horgan, our local foreman, and all the people who, in the middle of the night, have so diligently gone into businesses to try to help and assist in keeping the water out. I want to cite those as examples. The same situation has occurred in Killorglin. In the area office there, Brian Hickey and Patrick Fleming, our local foreman, along with all the other council personnel, whether they are in Killarney, Glanbehy, Waterville, Cahersiveen, Listowel, Tralee and throughout the county, work diligently like a fire brigade, and along with the fire brigade, to solve the problem as it arises and minimise the damage.

What we have to plan ahead and stop those types of occurrence. How do we do that? We do that by planning and putting in the investment. I thank and compliment the OPW, for instance, in Killarney, the great people who work there in Castlemaine and Killorglin and other parts of north Kerry, all of the OPW staff and the private contractors who work for them. What they need, and what they are relying on us to do, is to deliver the schemes and the funding. We, in turn, are looking to the Minister of State and the Government to take this matter seriously and to give it the attention it deserves.

We have a situation that has arisen over many years now, which is that in the past it was absolutely no problem for a farmer to go into a river and take gravel out. There was nothing wrong with doing this and it was not damaging. The ironic thing, when we talk about our fish stocks, is that we had far more salmon and fish in our rivers 20 and 30 years ago, when we were taking gravel out of them every day, than now. Today, one would have a better chance of robbing a post office and getting away with it than going to a river and taking gravel out of it. It would nearly be treated as the same type of offence. Now that one cannot go near a river to take a scoop of gravel out of it, there are far fewer fish in the rivers. Therefore, the farmers cannot be blamed for doing anything to the fish stocks.

I compliment and thank the fisheries board and the personnel that I deal with in County Kerry because when I have gone to them to tell them that gravel needs to be taken out of a river, they work with the farmer. I want that to be more encouraged and I want farmers to realise that it is not a criminal offence to go to a river and remove gravel from it. I want this to be actively encouraged. I cite the example of Lauragh, an area in my constituency. I work with people there on a daily basis. What I see happening there is as follows. There is one particular river that is flowing at a higher level than the road. With the first bit of a rise in the water level or a flood, the water is out on the road. How can the council personnel do anything about that? They cannot. What we need to do is to encourage the digging out of the gravel at the base of the river, where it can be taken out in a proper fashion, working in conjunction with the officers of the fisheries board who are charged with protecting our rivers and our fish stocks. We should all work together and not avoid each other. When I think of areas like Bonane, outside of Kenmare, where there have been very serious flooding problems in the past and farmers have had lands devastated, fences knocked and animals carried away in floods, again we can work together to do a proper job.

I thank the Minister of State for listening to us when we called for humanitarian assistance and to do so in the future.

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