Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I had a chance to visit Midleton recently and I spoke to many of the people living in the area. It is important for people outside Cork to remember how life-threatening this event was. It was not just damaging to homes, properties and businesses. Lives were in the balance. I know of an elderly man who now works as a human water gauge, as it were. When the rainfall is heavy he stays up, sometimes all night, to watch the level of the river to see whether it is going to damage people's lives. I offer special thanks to Mona Stromsoe and the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group. There is a protest happening on 18 May as part of an effort to raise awareness of this issue. The really frustrating thing is there is still no planning application in place. The communities were told in 2015 that there would be a physical response to this in the form of flood defences, yet nine years later no planning application has been made. I was talking to Deputy Stanton earlier and I believe the planning application could be close. I hope that is the case. Maybe the Minister of State could shed some light on that as well.

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