David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the office of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue today. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for being here. It has been four weeks now since Storm Babet hit east Cork and Midleton. We have all seen the devastation that was caused, and we have all seen the pictures from the town. We are extraordinarily lucky that nobody died. Some people were washed away during that storm. Many people had their livelihoods and homes destroyed. It will take a long time to pick up the pieces.

There is a concern that this might happen again. One of the issues that local people who have lived in the area all their lives have brought to my attention is the need to dredge the local rivers. I am not sure if it would have made a massive impact on the day, given that there were reports of 130 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. The River Owenacurra has not been dredged in my memory. It is all silted up, it is narrow in places and it cannot take the water that flows into it from the hills around it. I know there are concerns about it. I understand that councillors are doing some work on interim measures to be put in place before the major flood relief scheme gets under way. That scheme has to be done as well and it has to be moved on very quickly. It has been planned since 2015. A huge amount of work has been done, but we need to see action on the ground. In the interim, locals tell me that dredging the river would help to prevent flooding in Midleton. I appreciate that some people have concerns about dredging, but it has to be done. The Minister of State may want to visit the river at some stage. The Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, visited, as did the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell. They were all down to visit very soon after the impact. The rivers really need to be dredged. As I said, they have not been dredged for years. A decision has to be taken very soon because there is a concern that this might happen again.

I am told that Castlemartyr, a village halfway between Midleton and Youghal, is in the second tranche of the Office of Public Works, OPW, flood risk management programme. However, the second tranche has not been approved for funding to date. I am told that a minor application was submitted to the OPW in 2018 for river cleaning works upstream and downstream of Castlemartyr bridge. However, the OPW indicated that the application would not be successful for funding at that time. That is a shame because if the river had been dredged then, a lot of flooding may not have happened in Castlemartyr in the recent past and indeed in the intervening period. When I walked the bank of the river last week, I could see the need for dredging. It is very obvious. There is also the need to raise up the riverbanks on each side and build walls and flood defences there too. I understand that the council may submit another application for funding in light of what happened on 18 October. I urge the OPW to make funding available now to allow the River Kiltha in Castlemartyr to be dredged and also for the River Owenacurra in Midleton. There are other rivers in the area that need that kind of attention. The River Womanagh, which goes through Ladysbridge and Ballymacoda, needs attention. We have waited long enough now. Funding is the issue here. Let us get it done and let us prepare in order to prevent the flooding and the devastation that we have seen from occurring again.

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