Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. We are back again. I have been raising this issue for some time. I will give him a synopsis of what we are dealing with in Midleton in east Cork.

Midleton flooded in November 2000, October 2004, June 2012, July 2013, January 2014, February 2014, October 2014, December 2015, January 2016, December 2018 and the most recent and most devastating flooding was Storm Babet on 23 October 2023.

I have been raising this with the Minister for a while. It is now the end of June. I am still dealing with constituent householders whose insurance companies are fighting them. They still have not received a pay out from their insurance. Another issue raised with me in a number of areas was with regard to people who bought houses in council estates. Even though the entire estate was destroyed those on the council list received humanitarian aid and skips but those who bought their own houses were left to their own devices. There are also people who have only now started to get into their homes who are being told no skips are available. There is a lot of misinformation. I am trying to get answers through parliamentary questions and I am also hoping to get a meeting with senior engineers in Cork County Council.

Preventative measures are being discussed and, let us be honest, it will happen again at some stage. An event being one in 100 years or one in 200 years is a myth. We can have two in a day. It is about being preventative and getting away from being reactive. Providing a full grant for individual property protection through flood barriers that can be fitted onto doors is being mooted. I do not know anything about it but there is talk of 750 properties in the Midleton area, along with areas such as Mogeely and other parts of east Cork that were affected. I would like answers on this.

I know some early warning systems have been put in place. The Minister is aware of Moore's Bridge which collapsed into the river. There is a lot of debris downstream. There is a flood overflow there but it just did not work. One Department is saying the gravel will be taken out of the turn on the riverbed, which would protect houses on the right as it flows into Midleton, but I have been informed that Inland Fisheries Ireland is holding this back. We are not getting clarity on this.

What I would like this evening is reassurance. Let us try to get these flood barriers and protection barriers as fast as we can. Flooding is the most commonly-funded event by the European Union Solidarity Fund. Are moneys available through this fund? Could the Government draw down money from the European Union Solidarity Fund to start putting in place preventative measures in the summer before we head back into the winter when we will be facing the same devastation again? I will come back to the Minister of State on how it is affecting families.

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