Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I thank the Minister of State for being here with us today to discuss a very important matter for the constituency of Cork South West, namely, the many areas of flooding and, in particular, the Bantry, Ballylickey and Ballinascarthy flood relief schemes. This morning, I was talking to somebody from Bantry. They said that in 1983, 42 years ago, they had to sit in a shop with their legs up in the air to avoid the floodwater that was coming into the shop. It is 42 years later and there have been no changes. There is something wrong somewhere along the line. The Government has been place for God knows how long and it has failed to deliver a proper flood relief scheme for Bantry. That is all the people of Bantry want.

I am worn to my teeth from going around with Ministers every time there is a flood, spreading sympathies to business people when their businesses have been destroyed. Some have gone out of business and walked away because they could not get insurance. The "cross cover", or whatever it is called, is not covering businesses. Why has the flood relief scheme not been delivered? There is now a recent announcement saying it will be delivered in 2031. In the name of God, what are Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil doing in government, because they are not delivering for the people of Bantry? They cannot wait until 2031. The businesses cannot wait. The people living there cannot wait until 2031 for the scheme. It has been going on for 40 years and maybe longer because that person is only 50 so they were only a child 42 years ago. We cannot guarantee that if there is a flood tomorrow, it will not happen again.

Not far from Bantry, there is St. Colum's football pitch in Kealkill and the Ballylickey river. In 2017, the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, visited with me and it was embarrassing. I will never do it again. I will never again take a Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW into a house. I took him into the house of Dan Dineen and many more along the Ballylickey river. In 2017, I told the Minister of State what the problem was, as did the people, which was that the river was blocked. Fast-forward to 2025, the river is still blocked. My brother, Councillor Danny Collins, was drawing bags of sand two weeks ago to houses to stop the water going into the houses. Why? For some insistent, God damn reason, they will not clean out the rivers. It is common sense; clean out the rivers. Good God almighty, if you had a bath at home and you blocked the outlet, it would overfill and spill.

The pearl mussel is always mentioned. I have nothing against the pearl mussel, of course, but the Minister of State knows damn well that if the river floods, the pearl mussel will be pegged out into the field and die anyway. There has to be some way forward. Inland Fisheries Ireland is away with the fairies because it has no notion of cleaning out a river. It is quite happy rolling along and implementing its rules and regulations. When we fast-forward to February 2025, the people of Ballinascarthy, another side of west Cork, were absolutely destroyed by a flood. Everyone in the country was screaming and roaring on their behalf but not one thing has happened since. A bit of a bridge that was struck by a vehicle three or four years ago was put back up but other than that, the river is blocked and there are other works to be done. We are now in October and they do not know whether they are going ahead or not. Their hearts are in their mouths with the news of every flood that is coming. It is the same with St Colum's pitch in Kealkill and the Ballylickey river. It is backing itself up, it is blocked and it is flooding the pitch. It certainly must have contributed to the massive flood recently at Coomhola bridge. It burst out over the bridge and into a house.

Places like Madore, Reenrour and Inchera suffer from rivers that are not being cleaned out. Can the Minister of State tell me today that there will be a programme in these areas for the rivers to be cleaned out? That is all I ask.

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