Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

Last Saturday marked the second anniversary of Storm Babet. I attended a demonstration in Midleton to highlight the lack of progress in flood relief measures since that catastrophic event. I can see very clearly that individual staff in Cork County Council, the OPW and Arup are working very carefully and with great commitment in their efforts with flood relief but how can it be justified or even explained that so many residents and business owners in Midleton, Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Rathcormac, Ladysbridge and Whitegate and remain as exposed to flooding two years on from Storm Babet or from December 2015 when there was another catastrophic flood event? A flood gate scheme was announced by the then Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, in October 2024. It is proceeding at a snail’s pace and the flood gates are of no use to residents of timber-framed dwellings such as those in Gleann Fia in Mogeely. There is no indication of when works will begin to protect our villages in east Cork. When are we going to see the ambition and urgency that is needed from the Government applied to flood relief in east Cork?

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