Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raised this issue with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage rather than the Office of Public Works because I get that this is not the last time I will do so. What the Minister of State has told me is brilliant but we need a timeline for the drainage area plan.

To speak specifically about Dundalk, at this point we cannot get rid of storm waters following regular heavy rainfall. That tells me we have not made an allowance for new estates and we want to see even more estates built. We have also not allowed for new businesses and factories, all of which are very welcome.

My estate cannot get onto a line that goes to a pumping station, so the water literally lies in the estate. If we were to have further rain or the rains they had in the Cooley Peninsula, the estate would be destroyed. Councillor Antóin Watters and I covered a huge area. The Turf Road in Edentubber was ripped away but at least works are being planned for that. There is also Deerpark in Ravensdale and Ballymakellet. Businesses across the board in Carlingford are affected, including Ma Bakers, the Four Seasons, the Carlingford Arms and the equestrian centre. There is huge devastation. I thank the residents of Trinity Close, whose homes have been destroyed. Bridie McGeown allowed me to use her house to do an interview with RTÉ. Fiona and Brendan also fed me when I would have expected to be given short shrift. Lurgan, Piedmont, Benagh, Lordship, Rathcor, Grange and some other places are still dealing with this type of flooding. Everyone is pointing out changes with regard to drainage systems, culverts and so on. We really need to look at this.

There is an issue with Louth County Council. In 1982, there were, I think, 163 council workers, whereas now the number is around 28. A huge amount of work has been done but we need to have a central hub. At times we need to pull in other State agencies. People have asked if we need the Defence Forces. As I have said, we got lucky this time but we could be waiting for doomsday because all it would have taken was one more night of rain.

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