Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Based on his reply, I think the Taoiseach understands the impact on the community in Midleton. Bearing that in mind, he can also understand how stressful and anxiety inducing it is to know that might happen again and again. They are waiting a decade for flood relief works and it will be another decade before they are introduced. A lot of impacts go with that. I know from my own constituency that if you cannot get insurance, there is not only the fear of not being able to afford to rebuild your home or life, but you might also not be able to get finance to build an extension. It has a massive and far-reaching impact. I am glad the Taoiseach has said he is looking at a national land use plan. Ultimately, what we have with regard to climate change is that the tap is on. The approach so far has been to keep mopping the water off the floor when the tap is running. Maybe we replace the floor and build a wall around the sink. We do not actually turn the tap off, however, which is what we need to do. We have had so many developments built on floodplains, consistent deforestation. Our agriculture policy is driving the opposite of what the Taoiseach is talking about in terms of addressing what is happening. There has been no attempt to move towards this. Will the Taoiseach please acknowledge that all of those things have to change in order to reassure communities like Midleton and other places in counties Cork and Waterford? Will he acknowledge that the overall approach of Government has to change in order to address climate change, because it is here?

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