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

We have to review how we deal with wastewater. I spoke earlier about Dundalk and the fact that in most of the town, we have combined wastewater systems that deal with both storm water and sewage. We have infrastructure and a pumping station system that simply do not have the capacity to deal with current rainfall and flooding. We do not have the capacity to deal with the houses and factories that we have today, not to mention the capacity to deal with more factories or housing estates that need to be built. This is something that needs to be dealt with.

In terms of dealing with emergencies like the floods we had in north County Louth recently, we need to look at protocols and ways for local authorities to form central hubs. From time to time, they may need to bring in added resources from State agencies and central government.

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