Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about the storm but in Limerick we had two storms. First we had the storm that led to snowfall. Met Éireann did not put out a red weather warning for Munster for that storm. We had up to three feet of snow in an area stretching from Kerry all the way back down to Limerick, as well as in other parts of Munster. There was no red warning for that storm. The following week, Met Éireann was able to put up a freezing fog warning in Dublin but we had no red warning for Munster. There were people trapped in their houses for three, four or five days. There was no power or heating in their houses and they could not light a fire because there are no chimneys in these houses as a result of the new planning regulations.

In our community, we had the tragic death of Joe Noonan, God rest his soul. There would have been more deaths if it were not for the efforts of the local people, backed up by the county council, gardaí who had to borrow a Jeep from another county in order to assist, the search and rescue services, the Civil Defence and the Red Cross. The Red Cross had to borrow vehicles from other counties to provide meals for people. It showed the lack of resources these people have. Can one imagine that the gardaí had to borrow a Jeep from another area to come out and do a search and rescue? Can one imagine that? Farmers and other people who had access to tractors, Jeeps, quads, and whatever they could come up with went out and helped the people. The Government is subsidising places but it is not subsidising enough.

After the damage done by the snow, we then had the storm which actually wrecked places. I went out with a crew to lift the roof of a stand in Kilmallock off a person's house. We had to assist there. It was the people in the communities who went out to help. The Government left them high and dry. From the point of view of social media and the Government, they were left high and dry. Local communities and the likes of the Civil Defence, the Red Cross, search and rescue teams and An Garda went out to help but they were missing the funding needed to ensure they could save lives. That is a disappointment but we can learn from this. People provided generators and heating for homes. They opened up their businesses, got them running and brought locals in from around the area, gave them soup and sandwiches and kept them warm in a warm place because they had no heating in their own houses. That is what our local people did when the Government let us down.

See this speech in context